Aura Kingdom Online
by TheWildVortex
Summary: Ten years after the Sword Art Online incident ended, a new device succeeds the AmuSphere: the AuraSphere. Hiro Takamura, a fifteen year old boy decides to try out the device out after receiving it for free. The launch title: Aura Kingdom Online. New experiences and faces await him in the virtual world!
1. Episode 1: The Land of Light

**Episode 1: The Land of Light**

Why is it that we interact with other people? Of course, it's because we're human. We want to connect and establish relationships with everyone around us. But why? Why do we do what we do? If you strip down basic human relationships to the bone, you'll find that we only use other people to forward our own desires. Every day we benefit from others and they benefit from us. In conclusion, we need others to survive and they need us. That is our only purpose. Humans, in nature, are selfish… and I find that really annoying.

It was the middle of summer. My family and I had taken a short trip from our home in Osaka to go to Tokyo for a while. Of course, it was hot as hell as we walked through the streets but I never complained. We stopped by the usual landmarks and took pictures while also visiting different shrines. Not once did I smile. I don't know why I'm like this. Nowadays I'm annoyed by the simplest things like people walking around, smiling and laughing.

My name is Hiroyuki Takamura. If that's a mouthful for you then you can call me Hiro, most people do. My mom is American while my dad is Japanese, making me and my seven year old sister half-half. I have brown eyes, black hair, as well as the cliché nerdy thick glasses. I was born and raised in the United States for at least five years before we moved to Japan. Because of that, English was my first language but thanks to my dad, I managed to learn Japanese as well. I'm currently fifteen years old and have just graduated from the ninth grade. That's pretty much the gist of it. My life isn't that interesting or exciting. I'd even say it was boring. Well, at least until that day.

* * *

I sat on the bed of our hotel room reading some pamphlets we had collected across Tokyo. It was mostly apartment ads and restaurant menus. My dad could never turn these down; he was always trying to be polite.

"Are you sure about this, Hiro?" My mom came out of the bathroom with her brown hair wet and combed. She was clad in her purple top and denim pants. "Your uncle was looking forward to seeing you."

"Yeah, big brother! It's been a long time." I heard my sister's high pitched voice across the room. She's standing there along with my dad who's already dressed as well.

They were of course talking about the man, the myth, the legend: mom's brother who was almost always too busy to even call us. I used to admire him when I was younger but that admiration eventually faded. I mean, why would you like someone who doesn't even spend time with his family?

"We've walked a lot already. I'm tired." I said with a cold tone. "I'd rather stay here."

"Alright then..." My mom said. Even though she agreed, I could sense that she was annoyed about my attitude.

"What you want for dinner then?" My dad asked me with a smile.

"I'm okay with anything." I replied.

As they exited the door, my mom turned around one last time. "Last chance, Hiro. Who knows when we'll see him again?"

"Tell him to call then."

My mom froze for a second at my response then reluctantly shut the door. I relaxed back on the bed. Staring at the ceiling, I got lost in my thoughts. Hey, it's true. His calls are very few and when he does, he mostly tells us of how his work is doing. All the things he has accomplished. You see, he's a techno geek who was working on a new device similar to those full dive VR gadgets that I couldn't afford.

I eventually got tired of hearing everyone praise him. I mean, I'm a huge gamer and all but when your life's not doing so well and you hear someone else having an amazing time doing what he loves, you wouldn't exactly be jumping in joy, would you?

Now that I think about it, why did he invite us out? I checked my phone and realized today was the day he was going to release it. I sit up and widen my eyes. My mom said he was looking forward to seeing me. Was he going to give me a free unit or something? Thinking about this, I scratch my head in frustration. Maybe I should've…

 ***Ding dong***

I heard the doorbell ring. Slowly standing up, I heard it ring again. I thought it might have been room service or something. But I didn't order anything. Was it my family coming back because they left something? In that case, I think I'll actually tag along if it means a free gaming device. Approaching the entrance, I looked through the eye-hole. However, no one was there. Opening the door, I scanned the hallway. It was empty, no one in sight.

"Did I just get pranked or- ah!" My feet suddenly kicked something below me. It was a brown cardboard box with a note attached to it. Picking it up, I read.

 _'To: My Hero. From: RJ.'_

"RJ… it's from my uncle?"

RJ short for Robert Junior. He's the guy I mentioned. He always talked to me about games and anime when I was younger. That's the reason I'm such an avid geek now. My favorite video games and anime in the past were ones which told the story of heroes. Saving people, fighting bad guys, being admired by the masses, that's who I wanted to be hence the nickname he gave me. But that was me in the past: a stupid kid who could only dream.

Taking the box inside and closing the door, I plopped the package down onto the bed and opened it. Inside was a smaller, white box with the word AuraSphere covering the side.

"Holy crap!" I excitedly took the package out of the box. Is he psychic or something?! It was the new AuraSphere! The past VR devices had a lot of problems that my uncle was trying to solve. This included: internal battery, mobility, and most importantly: safety. Wouldn't want another SAO incident, even though I would probably be okay with that. This, however, was only available in Japan for now. Thank God I live here.

Slowly sliding the device out of the box, I stared at the AuraSphere in its full glory. It looked like two simple circles that had rubber indents for your ears. It came with a standard instruction booklet as well as a rectangular charging dock.

"Huh. It's orange…" I said as I examined the pieces. The AuraSphere was advertised as being white or black. I just shrugged it off and assumed that my uncle had gotten me a limited edition version. After all, what's family for?

Looking at the different parts, I remembered all that I have learned about it. Despite me being unenthusiastic about the device, I was secretly excited for its release. The headset can act as normal headphones but if you push the button on either side, a holographic visor pops up and shows you the menu. The headset connects wirelessly to any electronic with the AuraConnect application installed, however this marvelous piece of art can also function as a basic smartphone by itself.

I put the two circles on both of my ears. They fit just well with the rubber interior. I pressed the power button on the right side and surely enough, a holographic display shot up. It glowed blue as it displayed the log in screen. Waving my hand, the display started moving as well. I selected the button that read _'Log In'_ and expected a create account option to pop up. However, I was greeted with these words:

 ** _'Logged in. Welcome back, Wairuzu!'_**

"Wairuzu?!" I stared at the screen as the home page popped up. Apparently, Uncle RJ had already made an account for me… great. I wondered why he called it Wairuzu in the first place.

The home page was just basic with your profile name on the top left and the settings on the right while the main screen displayed any applications you have downloaded. Right now it was empty with the only icon shown being a blue square cube. I tapped on it and the title of the application popped up.

 ** _'Aura Kingdom Online'_**

My eyes widened. Obviously, if you were going to make a full dive VR device, you needed a launch title. This game was made by my uncle using something he called: the world seed. Excitedly, I tapped on the _'play'_ button next to the title which made it display a terms and agreements page.

"Yeah, yeah…" I scrolled to the very bottom and clicked _'I agree'_. Let's be honest, who reads these?

A pop up window appeared and I read it out loud.

"Put yourself in a comfortable position and activate using the voice command. Alright." Lying down, I realized I didn't know what the hell the voice command is. "Um… Game go? Start game!"

I sat up and scanned through the instruction manual included in the box. "Ah!"

Lying back down, I shouted. "Link start!"

What happened next changed my life forever. I felt an aura surround me as I dove into the game. All I could see was the shade of orange blinding my vision and running past me as if I was traveling through a tunnel of light. It stung a bit but I knew that soon, I wouldn't be in real life any more.

* * *

Opening my eyes, I felt the hot rays of the sun touch my skin. Looking around, I could see people walking around and interacting with each other. I was in some sort of fishing village with different houses having blue roofs. Boats were docked in a port nearby which connected to the vast, blue sea that stretched towards the horizon.

I smiled. This place was beautiful. Turning around, I met with a reflective window. That was when I saw myself. I had orange-ish hair with red eyes and wore a simple yellow shirt with a red sleeveless jacket and brown pants. I noticed that something was sticking out of my back. Pulling it, I unsheathed what looked like a long, red katana.

"What the hell?" I said to myself. What happened to the character creation screen?! The classes?! I didn't even get to look at the choices! I figured my uncle had given me his AuraSphere where he had already played a bit. At that point, I thought about restarting my account. However, I had no idea how. Sure, I have been following the news about the AuraSphere but I had no idea how to play this damn game.

"Excuse me!" I look to my side to find a woman walking towards me. She had shoulder-length, wood brown hair with a headband and a yellow bow attached to the back. Along with that was a deep shade of brown eye color, contrasting her golden necklace with a forest green stone. She wore a dark blue coat and a maiden dress with white, blue and matching dark blue as color palette.

"Uh hello?"

"Greetings, you must be new here!" She said with a smile. "I'm Sheila, the wife of the village chief, York. Welcome to Port Skandia!"

 _'exposition huh? Must be an NPC then.'_ I nervously smile back. "Hi! I uh…"

"Do you require any assistance?"

"Actually, yeah. I have no idea how to play this game."

"Sure. I could help. What would you like to know?"

Her voice was so static that she seemed almost like a robot. Well, that's how NPC's are supposed to act, I guess.

"Well, the basics should be good enough."

Pausing for a while, Sheila spoke once more. "To open the menu, swipe your index finger down."

"Swipe my…" Doing the motion with my right hand, a menu suddenly slid down in front of me like a hologram. It had all the tabs a normal game would have such as options, status, party, log out, and more. The top part contained my username and a picture of my avatar's face. "Wairuzu. Of course."

"If you can kindly look at the top of the menu, you could see your username, level and class."

I noticed that my level was still at one. Did my uncle just make an account for me, customized my avatar, chose my class, and left it alone?! If that were the case, then I want to reset this account right away. Oh well, might as well have some fun for a bit. After all, this is my first VRMMO.

Looking at my class, a symbol of a katana in a box sat there. I tapped on it and a window popped up. Apparently my class was called Ronin, my weapon was a tachi.

"Do you need to learn the basics of combat?" Sheila asked.

"Nah, I think I'll be fine. Just swing my sword right?" I grabbed my sword with two hands and held it forward.

"Okay then! If there's nothing else then I shall give you your first quest!"

"Quest?" Right. It's an MMORPG.

"Here!" A screen suddenly popped up in front of Sheila with my quest written on it. Apparently, I had to bring a lunch box to her husband, the village chief.

"What? No killing things? Just bring this to him?"

"Yup! Although, York might have something else for you. You can find him near the lighthouse."

I sighed and pressed accept. Boring as the quest sounded, it was still 302 EXP. I grabbed the yellow lunch box and made my way to the up the steps and along the path using the mini-map display to guide me. Along the way, I spotted different stands with NPC's selling different items to players. Speaking of which, I easily separated the players from the NPC's through the weapons they held. Some had battle-axes, one had a sword and shield. There's even a girl with dual swords! I honestly would've preferred the dual swords but unfortunately, my class was already chosen for me.

I spotted a stout man up ahead who had glasses and was wearing a yellow outfit with a dark brown vest. He also had a matching cap on his head to go with his clothes as well as a moustache above his mouth. I was about to approach him when another player in a sleeveless blue vest beat me to the punch.

"Hey! You York?" He said.

"Yes. That's me." York, the village chief, said with a smile. "Wait. Where's my wife? And why are you delivering my lunch?"

"Well, she told me to give this to you." The guy held out the same yellow lunch box I had in my hands.

"Ah thank you." York took the box as the player was surrounded in a blue aura.

"Hey, level 2!"

"Speaking of which, I have something to ask of you." York continued. "Caine, the foreman at the Logging Site, requires extra hands to drive the bunnyhops out of the area. Go to him at once."

"Roger that!" The guy enthusiastically accepted the quest and ran off.

"Okay." I finally approached the chief. "York?"

"Hm?" York eyed me. "Wait. Where is my wife? And why are you delivering my lunch?"

 _'That's the exact the same dialog.'_ I narrowed my eyebrows. You could tell my uncle hadn't really focused on the NPC interaction.

"Yeah, here." As expected, a blue aura surrounded me as I reached level 2.

"Speaking of which, I have something to ask of you."

"Caine, the foreman I know, I know…" the quest window popped up. Talk to Caine about the bunnyhops. What the hell were bunnyhops? Pressing accept, I opened the map from the menu. "Looks like he's outside the village."

* * *

As I passed through the tall stone arc that stood at the village entrance, I found myself in a beautiful, dense forest where the sunlight shined through the trees and created a ray that stretched to the ground. I opened the map once more and left it open. Not that far now. All of a sudden, something stood in front of me. It was a creature much shorter than me with long, rabbit-like ears, short arms and legs, and a tail that had a green ball at the end of it. Its pink eyes stared directly at mine.

"Uh… hello?" I waved. "You don't happen to be a bunnyhop do you?" I said as I reached for my sword. However, before I could unsheathe it, the small monster pounced towards me and smacked me right in the face with its tail. I fell to the ground with a grunt before the bunnyhop hopped away. "Little bastard..."

I suddenly heard laughter from behind me accompanied by a condescending voice. "Don't let a bunch of rabbits kick your ass!"

Looking up, I found a man with the same red and yellow outfit as I had. His hair, tied up in a ponytail, was black with hints of blue. The same colours were visible on his goatee. Holding his hand out, he smiled.

"Thanks." I decided to stand up on my own. "But I'm fine."

"If you say so. You can call me Jayce by the way."

"Wairuzu." It won't matter anyway once I restart this game.

"Hey, you a Ronin too?!" Jayce eyed the weapon on my back as I realized he had the same tachi but blue. "I haven't seen a lot of Ronin players so far. After all, it is apparently the most challenging class."

 _'Most… challenging?!'_ I scratched the back of my head. "It is?"

"Yeah, in the class selection screen, each one had up to a five star rating for difficulty. This one's a full fat five."

"I see…" I didn't actually get the chance to access the freaking class selection.

"If you'd like, we could party together. Y'know, since we're the same class?"

I stared at the smile that formed on Jayce's face. "Why should I? What do you want from me?"

"Huh?" He shifted his feet and crossed his arms. "I don't need anything, Wairuzu. I just wanted to learn alongside you. This game and system just came out anyway."

He probably needs someone to take the hits for him before he goes in for the kill. I'm basically cannon fodder if I join him.

"Thanks but no thanks. Besides, I'm probably going to remake this character in a bit."

"Oh." Jayce said. "In that case, come find me around here when you have your actual avatar, okay?"

"Sure." I reach for the log out button. I wasn't actually going to find him once I make my new character. Someone like him was probably going to be too much of a hassle.

* * *

I opened my eyes to the dull ceiling of my hotel room. Once you saw the bright and colourful environment of Aura Kingdom, you could never really appreciate real life again. Sitting up, I accessed the Aura Kingdom icon once more. I noticed that there was the standard gear icon beside the name. Tapping it, I see the options.

"Ah here we go." My eyes spotted the reset data button. My uncle wouldn't mind right? After all this is mine now.

Before I could do anything else, I heard my phone ring from across the room. Taking off the AuraSphere, I quickly pick up the call.

"Hello?"

 _"Hiro!"_ It was my mom. Her voice made it sound like she was holding back tears. _"Something's happened to your uncle, we won't be back for a while!"_

I could feel my breaths become heavier as she said that.

 _"Just stay there okay?!"_

"Yeah…" I replied as she hung up.

Staring at the screen, I wondered what the hell happened. What something? That's when I looked at the time. The sun was setting when my family left so why was it still bright outside?

I then realized that the source of the light was a large fire in a nearby skyscraper. The smoke filled the air like dark clouds. I then spotted the sign on the top of the building: **RECT Progress Inc**.

"That's… that's where uncle is…"

* * *

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

 **Next Episode: Friends and Enemies**


	2. Episode 2: Friends and Enemies

**Episode 2: Friends and Enemies**

 _"Because of the lack of flammable substances, authorities are attributing the cause of the explosion to a short circuit in the building's server room."_

I stared blankly at my phone. It's been five days since we got back to Osaka yet I still couldn't wrap my head around what happened. Most of all…

"Among those missing is Robert Langston Junior. Most people know him as the father of the brand new AuraSphere."

It's still weird how the explosion happened the same day the AuraSphere was released. If I'm not mistaken, the building that went boom was RECT Progress Inc. They were the company behind the original AmuSphere as well as some fairy game.

My uncle kept mentioning them before saying that he had finally found someone to invest in his idea. Those two worked hand in hand and thus: the AuraSphere was born.

A notification suddenly popped up right beside the video I was watching. I tapped on it and read the message.

 _'Damn it. What's taking so long?!'_ I decided to get out of bed and go outside my room. As fate would have it, the doorbell rang. I rushed downstairs to find my mom coming in with a large cardboard box in her hands. She brought it in with a melancholic expression.

 _'Should I? Eh.'_

"Mom?"

She turned to face me as she set the box down on a nearby table. "Yes?"

"Is it in there?"

Opening it, she reached for what I was looking for and handed it to me. "Here, sweetie."

"Thanks." I nodded as I grabbed the box of the AuraSphere that had mysteriously appeared in front of my hotel room. The police had taken it as evidence along with several of our belongings but weren't able to find much. I heard that they were able to trace my uncle's trail up until the hotel where we stayed but after that, the trail was cold.

Still, I'm glad I got it back. I probably should've been more sensitive to my mom though. I mean, she did just lose her brother. Maybe he just bailed and ran off to another country with all his wealth intact.

Whatever the reason was, I couldn't really care less. If he wants to leave us then let him. For now, I was running late for a meeting.

As soon as I reached my room, I immediately flopped onto my bed and put on the AuraSphere. Fortunately, the police were kind enough to recharge it. How considerate. Opening the menu, I selected Aura Kingdom Online. That's when I remembered I was going to reset my character.

Navigating to the options, my finger hovered over the reset data button. Why am I hesitating? It's just a stupid character... but it's probably also the last thing my uncle made. Why would I care? I wanted to make my own character from the start.

Wairuzu. That stupid name rang a bell in my head for some reason. The more I said it, the more familiar it became. For some reason, I just closed the options and logged in.

Screw it. I already started this journey with Wairuzu; I'm going to finish it with him. And with that, I said the magic words:

"Link start!"

* * *

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

I stretched my arms as I took in the bright sun. For a video game, this felt more real than I thought it would. Walking around, I scanned the crowd. They should be around-

"Hey Hiro! That you?"

I heard a voice from behind. Spinning around, I spotted some dude with the same basic clothes as me, only with a yellow colour palette. His blonde hair shot up like spikes while his glasses made him seem more of an asshole. Well, that's because he is.

"Orange hair and red eyes. Just as you said!"

"Hey! What did I say about names?!" I immediately responded. "Rule number one of MMO's: never give out any personal information!"

He just scratched his head and smiled. "Right. Sorry uh… Wairuzu?"

"It's a long story." I'm having second thoughts about not changing this character. "What'd you name yourself this time then?"

Blondie swiped to his profile page and showed it to me.

"Daize huh?" Same exact username as the previous games.

"Hey, if it fits, it sits."

Ladies and gentlemen, his majesty: Shimpei Matsuo also known as Daize, also known as The Shimpei Master Race. We're friends in real life since we go to the same school. His reputation and overbearing ego comes from the huge amount of luck he seems to have when it comes to games. If someone were to win a rare item from a loot box, it would be him.

"By the way, where's the other one?" I asked Daize.

"He messaged me that he logged in; should be around this area."

My eyes scanned around until I spotted some cute girl walking around, nervously talking to people all the while twiddling her fingers. Her long white hair glistened in the sunlight while her silver eyes… well you get the point. She was pretty.

"Oh there he is." Daize pointed towards the supposed girl.

"Wait, you serious?"

"Yeap. Genj- I mean, Soran! Over here!" He waved like an idiot.

The trap quickly made his way over to us in a manner I would only describe as feminine.

"Thank God. I thought I was on the wrong server."

Nope. He still sounded like a dude. That's probably why those people were surprised once he opened his mouth.

Meet Genji Sotomura who goes by the name Soran. He's another friend from school. A bit shy and low in the confidence department but he's also a great guy. Genji's as polite as he is smart; has the top score in every class without fail.

"Okay what's with the trap avatar?" I asked him while narrowing my brows. Can't believe I fell for that.

"I didn't mean to make one! I just made the same character I had from the last games we played and changed up the hair." Soran spoke as he stroked his white hair. "Since this is my first VRMMO, I wanted to see what it felt like to have long hair."

Makes sense. He has extremely short hair in real life since his parents are strict about that kind of stuff.

"So…" I moved forward and turned around to scan their weapons. Daize had a basic wooden bow with yellow indents around his shoulder along with the complimentary quiver full of arrows. Soran had a large shield and sword hung on his back which made him look like he could topple over at any minute due to the frail looking avatar he made.

"I see you two still kept the usual classes."

It was like this for every game we played. Daize was our main range player who always uses a bow. Soran was our tank; if he couldn't find a class with a shield, then he'd pick the one who had the most defence. As for me…

"And you didn't." Daize raised an eyebrow. "What are we going to do without our mage?"

It's true. I was always the magic user, shooting destructive spells and healing both of them from the back. However, thanks to a certain someone, I'm a swordsman now.

"You want me to change? I mean I could-"

"It's a nice look on you actually." Soran smiled. "Maybe you should try another class for once."

That voice paired with that face is a crime. "Sure, why not?"

"We're going to have to rethink our strategy though." The Archer pointed out.

He's right. We have two melee characters now, not to mention no healer so Soran would have a tough time tanking.

I sighed. "Why don't we discuss this while questing? It's not like we're going to fight a boss or something."

"Actually…" Daize trailed off before he showed me his profile page once more. I glanced around until my eyes met with his level.

"Level 15?!" I stepped back in surprise as a large grin appeared on his face.

"Yeah. While you were offline, we might have done a few quests. We're up to a point where we have to fight the first boss in this area."

Soran nervously laughed. "But don't worry! We'll stay with you until you catch up."

I realized I was still level 2. Great. "I hate you."

* * *

I managed to get much done after a few hours, killing bunnyhops, fetching items, and gathering a bunch of wood in the forest until I reached level 15. Sitting down against a tree, I exhaled.

"I didn't know VR is just as tiring as real life." Although I did feel like I had more energy here.

"Grinding feels tiring in every game doesn't it?" Daize had a point. MMOs are naturally grind fests and whether you're moving your body or not, they can be a drag.

Getting bored I opened my inventory. I spotted a couple of rewards there from my quests as well as the currencies of the game: your usual silver and gold coins. They didn't even have special names.

My eyes shifted towards a gift box that read _'Launch Day Bonus'_. I immediately tapped on it but was met with a menu message: _'Unlock at level 20'_.

"What's this?" I asked out loud.

Daize crouched beside me and looked at the gift. "Oh, Soran and I have that too. It's supposed to commemorate the launch of this game. Don't know what's inside though."

"Well then." Standing up, I stretched my arms. "We better level up and find out."

Swinging a sword was much more different than casting spells. There was a learning curve but I think I got the hang of it.

"Alright, first we have to form a party." Daize nodded towards Soran.

"You mean me?" He pointed at himself. "I don't think I should be the party leader…"

"Well, we can't have it be Wairuzu all the time."

It's true, I usually was the party leader but that's only because none of them took the initiative to start one. However, before I could lift a finger, someone called out to us.

"Hey!" A girl came running up to us. She had her green hair tied into a ponytail while two swords rested on her back. I noticed she had more advanced armour on her with a black top that was a little too revealing along with shorts and pads in the usual places. She actually looked kind of cool. "You guys looking to level up quickly?"

The three of us glanced at each other before glancing back at her.

"Is this some kind of an ad?" I asked before Daize spoke up

"Sure, what'd you have in mind, uh…"

"Arryn." She smiled. I had to admit, that smile was cute. However, I was still on my guard.

"I'm Daize. This is Soran and Wairuzu."

Jeez you didn't have to speak for us.

"Nice to meet you guys. I'm a part of a group that helps other people level up quickly." Arryn continued. "They even helped me, see?"

She swiped around and showed us her profile.

"Level 60?!" Daize shouted.

"That's way far off from us." Soran chuckled.

"How'd you get to that level so fast?" I was a bit sceptical at first. Even if the game was out for almost a week, there's no way someone would be able to grind that much unless they never ate nor slept during that entire period.

"Follow me, I'll explain on the way." She started walking as the guys followed.

"Hey, wait! Where are we going?" I stood my ground. The only people I trusted in this game right now were Daize and Soran. "How do we know you're not leading us to a PVP area?"

For those not familiar with the term, PVP is player versus player. Pretty self-explanatory. The zones for PVP and PVE, player versus environment, are kept separate in games so that people don't go around killing each other all the time. Port Skandia and this forest are one of those PVE areas.

"Well…" Arryn turned around. "I guess I have to explain this to you now."

She cleared her throats. "I leveled up quickly because I defeated a high level boss at an early stage with my comrades. The people who helped me are the ones who actually grinded normally. Since they wanted to help newbies, they partied with the newcomers to fight the bigger bosses that were levels ahead of them but still below their own levels."

"Party EXP is shared equally among all players. So that means the lower level players get just as much as the high level ones." Daize put it together.

"Exactly, for a high level player, that EXP wouldn't mean much but for newcomers, that's a big boost. Repeat that a couple of times and voila. It's a good thing the game allows lower levels to enter high level areas."

"That sounds like an exploit." I raised my brow.

"Well, this game isn't perfect. Might as well make the most out of it." She winked a wink that kind of ticked me off. I didn't know why.

"That sounds fun." Soran said. "Plus we get to make new friends."

"Alright, Arryn." Daize grinned. "We're sold."

"Wait. We are?" I asked.

Arryn laughed. "Don't worry, swordsman. We'll be going to a PVE area so you don't have to worry about PVP."

I just crossed my arms and followed them. My mind went haywire once more trying to think of why she would do this for us. What does she need from us? It definitely wasn't friendship.

* * *

We tread through the forest until we came across a swamp that smelled about the same as a swamp would smell. The water was murky while the trees had mould everywhere. Luckily there was a footpath so we didn't have to touch the crap juice. The monsters in this area were mostly giant bugs like mosquitoes and beetles along with weird looking crocodiles

"Alright we're here." Arryn stopped at an intersection that led to a red portal. "That's strange, I told her to wait right here."

"Her?" Soran asked.

"Our last member. She should've been waiting for us here."

As if on cue, a girl came out from behind the tree, battered and bruised. It looked like she had taken a swim in the murky waters. She had the usual starter clothes but purple while she gripped a book tightly in her arms. Her long hair matched her eyes with a purple colour. Why does every girl in this game look so cute? Save for Soran of course.

"Oh God, I thought I was going to die." She let out a sigh of relief.

"Megumi!" Arryn approached her, handing her a health potion. "What the heck were you doing out there?"

Megumi laughed a little before taking the health potion. "I thought I could take on the monsters here while waiting."

Looking around I noticed this was a fairly advanced area with some high level mobs. Considering that this is so close to the starting area, low level players could just wander here and die a horrible death.

"Okay, now that we're all together, why don't we introduce ourselves once more?" Arryn clapped her hands together. "I'm Arryn, a level 60 Duelist!"

"I'm Megumi, level 17 Sorcerer." She raised her magic book and smiled. That's probably the class I would've chosen. "I look forward to working with you."

"The name's Daize. Best Archer in the realm so you can count on me to always hit my ma-"

I delivered a swift elbow to his majesty's gut to tell him to tone it down.

"I'm level 15…" He scratched his head and let out a chuckle which made everyone else laugh a bit too.

"U-um I'm Soran. I'm a level 15 Guardian. I can help you guys with the tanking."

"Wait you're a boy?" Megumi pointed at him in surprise.

"I actually thought he was a girl too." Arryn said.

"Y-yeah. I'm terribly sorry for misleading you two." He apologized in his usual fashion with a great bow.

The sorcerer smiled and waved her hand. "It's fine. There's no need to apologise."

"And lastly." Arryn and the others turned to me.

I sighed and spoke up. "Wairuzu. Level 15. Ronin."

I wasn't planning on getting close to them. Heck, the only reason I was here was because Soran and Daize gave me no choice but to be a part of this exploit group.

"Okay I'm going to form the party and explain how this is going to go down." Arryn sent invites to each of us. "Inside is a Level 50 Starlight Golem that's easy enough for me to take down with my dual swords. All I need you guys to do is stay back and try not to aggro the boss while taking pot shots to help me out. Debuffs would be appreciated."

"That doesn't sound like a great plan." I mentioned. If any of us got hit once then we'd be killed immediately. Arryn may be ten levels above this boss but that doesn't mean she can kill it fast enough or even tank all the damage.

"Just trust me Wairuzu. Trust in your friends."

Excuse me? When were we friends?

"I'm going to hand each of you health and magic potions just in case."

A notification for the potions popped up in front of me as she sent them to all of us.

"Alright, guys. If there's nothing else, you all ready?"

"Yeah!" They raised their fists in unison.

"Okay everyone in the portal." On her command, we all went in.

* * *

"Whoa this cave is huge!" Daize's voice resonated throughout the cavern.

A small stream lined up with our path while vines littered the wall. Straight ahead was a giant rock formation in the middle of a large area. This was definitely where the fight's going to take place.

However, I immediately felt that something was wrong. Looking behind me, I realized the portal had closed.

"Uh, guys? Where's Miss Arryn?" Soran asked as he glanced at the wall where the portal had once been.

"Oh no." As I feared. While we stood there, the rock formation in the middle started to rise. Boulders and debris collided as a giant rock monster formed in front of us. As the traitorous Arryn said, it was indeed a Starlight Golem. However, its level was not 50.

"G-guys, that thing's level 100…" Soran stepped back.

"Screw this! We need to get out of here." Daize ran back to the entrance and hit the wall with his fists. "There's gotta be some way to open the portal again!"

Megumi looked like she froze in place. Her eyes were as wide as they can be while her legs looked like they were going to buckle. Poor girl probably got tricked like us.

"Wairuzu!" Daize turned to me as I was eyeing the golem. "Help me find a way out!"

"It's no use." While my AuraSphere was taken, I managed to read up on this game. "This is a master dungeon made for players who want to go past the level cap. The catch is: once you enter, you can't leave unless you defeat the boss… or die."

Everyone turned to me as I said that. Sure this isn't Sword Art Online where if you die in the game, you die in real life but death was still a punishment here. We'd lose all our items except our weapons and armour and since this is a master dungeon, we'd even lose EXP. A lot of EXP would be subtracted and we might even be levelled down.

"We have no choice but to fight it." I pulled out my tachi.

"Are you crazy?!" Soran yelled. "That thing will one shot us."

He's right. However, I didn't want my hours of grinding to go to waste. No matter how hard or how long it takes, I'll find a way to beat this thing. I won't lose to you, Arryn.

I'll show you I'm not weak!

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by** **Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: Megumi**

* * *

 ** _A/N: I'm going to try to make these episodes a weekly thing like an anime so that you guys can- wait. I'm going on a vacation literally tomorrow. I won't be back until June so don't expect anything in between. I'm sorry. Thank you also to the two who reviewed this fanfic. Reviews inspire me to write more whether they're positive or "extremely constructive". See you guys in June hopefully._**


	3. Episode 3: Megumi

**Episode 3: Megumi**

"Mari!"

I heard a voice call out to me. My head was buried in a pillow. _'Not now please.'_

"Mari!" A middle aged woman forcefully entered my room. The door audibly hit the wall with full force. I'm pretty sure that left more than a dent.

"Don't you think it's about time you got up?"

I groggily lifted my head up and yawned at my Aunt. "It's summer, I can wake up anytime I want."

"Not under my roof, young lady." She sounded more ticked off than usual. "Look, we're getting overwhelmed at the shrine. I'm going to need you join us. Your breakfast's on the table."

"Ugh…"

"Oh! And do fix yourself up before you leave. Your current appearance is unbefitting of a young lady."

I waited for the door to close before I pushed myself over. Sitting up, I realize how messy my hair was, frizzling all the way down to my shoulders. My clothes were also wrinkled to hell probably because I can't stay still when I sleep.

If you're wondering who I am, I'm just your average girl living with her evil aunt whose life was about to be drastically changed forever. At least that's what I'd describe myself if I ever wrote my own book. My name is Mariko Amari, sixteen years old, short in stature but cute, and very bad at waking up.

I stayed with my aunt who runs a shrine. She's not actually evil but she can be a bit of a pain. I mean, I still love the rare occasions when she takes me out to eat. My actual mom, on the other hand, worked day and night to keep me in school, rarely coming home since her office is far away from the house.

They're not the only ones working hard though. Since it was summer, I managed to convince my aunt to let me work in her shrine doing simple things like cleaning and stuff. It's hard work but it pays off, literally, whenever one of my friends invites me to a café.

Deciding that I had spent enough time vacantly staring at space in pure anger, I pushed myself off my bed and headed to the bathroom. After my usual morning/afternoon routine, I made my way to the dining room with wet hair and my classic white shirt to go with my purple overalls.

My aunt's house was bigger than your usual house. Its architecture was also far from Japanese. Stepping inside was like entering an entirely different country. Most of the walls were white and clean while the floor was lined with wooden patterns. I guess running a shrine really pays off.

Reaching my destination, I found a plate of Salmon along with a bowl of Miso soup begging to be shoved into my mouth. I didn't spend much time eating though. I was already late enough as is.

Slipping on my sneakers and moving out of the house, I was greeted by rows of cherry blossom trees. They're more beautiful to look at during spring but it was still a nice sight. This is one of the reasons I loved it here.

The shrine wasn't too far from the house but the walk there allowed me to take in the beauty of the garden my aunt and her workers tended to every day. Bushes filled with colourful flowers, grass as green as you can imagine, and the sound of birds singing, I'd enjoy all of these things…

…if it wasn't for the blistering heat. I knew it was summer but come on! My aunt expected me to work like this? Arriving at the giant red arch, I wiped the sweat from my forehead and bowed. People were already coming in and out, making offerings and praying.

Climbing up the stone steps, I made my way to the wash area to clean my hands. My aunt was strict when it came to these things. Walking amongst the crowd, I looked around for her. She would probably be in the administrative office.

Fun fact: I actually used to be a shrine maiden here but I eventually grew tired of playing dress up. All the proper etiquette and traditions just overwhelmed me. I remember all the festivals we held here. Those were the days, I guess.

Inside the office building, I found her talking with a bunch of people. She was armed with her signature pink kimono. Her face, which was heavily covered in make-up, immediately locked onto me as soon as my presence was detected.

"Mari! You finally made it!"

"Yeah, I uh-" Before I could say a word, I felt the cold hands of death latch onto my shoulders.

"Now, I'm going to need you to do a few things."

Here it comes.

* * *

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

"Ugh." I collapsed onto my bed. Who the hell makes a teenager take out the trash in the harsh sunlight? By the time I had finished, I needed another shower. Speaking of time, I checked the clock on my wall. I realized that it was evening. That meant I was free to do whatever. Auntie shrine maiden will probably be out with her friends again so that meant I had to eat dinner alone again.

"Right." My face lit up with determination.

I walked over to my desk where my laptop lay in wait. Opening it, I entered my password which may or may not be one of the top five celebrities I'm in love with. As it booted up, I went over and pulled a large cardboard box out from under my bed.

Opening it, I gazed at the contents before taking out a grey helmet with a cord attached to it. This was a NerveGear, one of the last things I got from my father.

Now, I was aware of the Sword Art Online thing and how lots of people were killed by this thing but I have actually been using this thing for months without any problems. Look, a girl's gotta keep herself busy.

You see, its predecessor, the AmuSphere, had a similar program that ran VR apps. Since it was compatible with Nerve Gear, all I had to do was plug it into my laptop and boom! Entirely new worlds awaited me.

I never really got into games though; VR concerts and shopping malls were more of my thing. However, today was the day I decided to try one particular VRMMO.

Bringing the Nerve Gear with me, I went back to my laptop and sat on my chair. The VR program I downloaded had updated to support the brand new AuraSphere that just came out and with it came a new game: Aura Kingdom Online.

I had decided to make this my first VR game because it was something new. I always got intimidated hearing about other players feats in other games so I wanted a game where everyone started fresh.

Clicking through some stuff, I managed to get Aura Kingdom ready. I slid my head into the VR device and plugged it into my laptop. Relaxing my back, I fell into a comfortable position. All I had to do was say the magic words.

"Link start!"

* * *

So yeah, I entered the game, created my character and gave her a purple hue. I was actually very proud of how Megumi turned out. She was every ounce of cute I wanted her to be.

Choosing a class was the hardest part though. In the end, I went with a sorcerer (don't know why it can't be called sorceress too but hey). This class was the most appealing since I held a magic book of death. Just the thought of that alone made me giddy.

And so, I played as a sorcerer for a bit, stumbling around and messing up a couple of times. I'm not an avid gamer so can you blame me?

It wasn't until I met Arryn that I actually started to get the hang of the mechanics.

* * *

It was a warm and sunny day in the Port of Skandia. I, the adorable maiden, Megumi was having my ass kicked by a huge rabbit. I fell to the ground after the so-called Bunnyhop boss had knocked me down with a jumping shockwave. It didn't take out much of my health but it sure made me dizzy.

Regaining my footing, I let out my book once more. It floated and glowed a bright white as I lifted my right arm. Shots of magic bolts fired and hit the boss. Its health lowered but not by much.

"Almost there…" I panted. Why the heck is a level 3 boss so hard?!

"You having trouble there, sorcerer?" A girl with green hair handed me a health potion.

"Kinda hehe…" I smiled as I took the potion. My health shot back up to full as I noticed a shadow looming above me. "Oh no."

The bunnyhop had launched itself once more and was hurdeling towards me at a speed faster than I could react. Not faster than her though.

To my surprise, the nice girl who had helped me leapt up and spun around with her dual swords. The damage she dealt was enough to erase the demented bunny from existence. My mouth gaped wide as she landed gracefully, her ponytail swaying in the wind.

"Whoah… maybe I chose the wrong weapon." I gazed sadly at my spell book.

"Not really. It all depends on how you use your weapon and the skills that come with it." She explained as she sheathed her swords on her back. "That back there was a dual sword skill."

"Skills? Right. Of course." I smiled, pretending I knew how to use those.

"Don't worry, newbie. It happens to everyone. I take it this is your first time in VR?"

"VR? No. First game more specifically." I had to admit it; I never was that into gaming.

"You are familiar with your skills right? If you only use basic attacks, you're never going to get far."

"And If I, hypothetically, was not familiar with them, how would I go about using them?" I asked, dumbfounded.

She sighed as she smiled at my helpless state. "Looks like we're going to have to start from the beginning. I'm Arryn by the way."

"Megumi."

"Right, Megumi. Try opening your skill menu. You should see what is available to you at this level.

And that's how it started. Arryn taught me all that I needed to know and to my surprise I actually started getting better. I was levelling up, taking down monsters, and doing all the usual RPG stuff. I learned I was a balance between a damage and healer type class which meant I was better off partying with other players. I was fine with that. I mean, who wouldn't want to be useful to the other players?

In between the training, we managed to find time to chill which was where I found out that the level gap between me and Arryn was huge and I mean HUGE. She was level 60 when she met me. I don't know how people are able to level up that fast. That was until she told me.

"I come from a group that's helping other players speed up the levels." Arryn told me as we sat on a cliffside overlooking the sunset in Port Skandia. "It started when one of our friends found a way to beat the high level bosses."

"How exactly does he do that?" I asked, curiously.

"That, my friend, is a trade secret. He doesn't want anyone finding out."

"Why? Afraid the admins will ban him or something?" Thinking about it, I actually haven't seen any admins yet. Maybe they just watch over the players in the game instead of playing themselves.

"Sorry, Megumi. I can't even tell you his username." She swayed her legs back and forth. "So are you in?"

I leaned back and pondered her question. Sure I could rise through the levels and have a better shot at playing this game but would that really be fun? However, she said she was part of a group. Maybe I could join them, make friends. That was my secret goal actually.

When you're left alone in your house for a long time, it gets lonely. I actually decided to get into gaming because I heard all these stories of friends, who had met in game and eventually became friends in real life. The more ambitious stories involved people actually falling in love in VR. Deep down, I wanted a bond like that.

"Sure. On one condition!" I pointed my finger at her face. "You'll be my best friend!"

"Huh?" Arryn had a surprised look on her face before she started laughing. "Sure! But if we are going to be best friends, we need to know more about each other."

"Right. Of course." I scratched my head. "So my real name is-"

Her finger reached my lips immediately. "Maybe no personal details just yet, Megumi. After all, you don't really know who I am. It's a rule of MMO's to never reveal personal details in game."

"Oh." Right. I'm an idiot. "So what should we talk about?"

"Hm…" Arryn pondered. "Hobbies wouldn't hurt."

"Well, then…" No. Nothing about drama shows, that's weird. Nothing about anime either. "Books! I like reading."

"Really? What's your favourite series?"

We talked and talked. We talked about lots of things and even spent some time suggesting books to each other. I really felt like we were best friends. The online bond I've always wanted was being formed. Oh how cruel the universe can be. I never should have played this freaking game.

* * *

I felt my eyes watering at the realization that my first best friend in VR tricked me. If it wasn't for the tears, I could have probably seen the pile of rocks coming. The level 100 golem boss hurled them in my direction.

My body couldn't move as I felt a force knock me to the side. However, it wasn't the rocks. Instead, I opened my eyes to a boy with orange hair over me. His eyes were red and his brows were furrowed.

"Listen! Megumi right?!" He quickly stood up and unsheathed his longsword. "If you're going to be useless then might as well log out and lose your stuff now!"

"Wha-" I sat up in surprise. My head turned to the boss the others were facing. Its health bar was unimaginable. How could we defeat something like that? It's impossible.

I felt uncertain. I felt the type of anxiety you'd feel when you didn't know if you were going to get a passing grade in class. It made me sick in the stomach. However, that anxiety faded away as soon as I saw the others.

Daize was dodging boulders whilst firing arrows at the behemoth, doing as much damage as he could.

Soran stood at the base of the golem and blocked any attacks that were coming our way. If it wasn't for his tank class skills, he would die in one hit. He was spamming potions while guarding though.

And Wairuzu, he had a look of determination on his face as he charged at the boss. His fire red tachi made streaks of light as he manoeuvred around the boss's attacks.

These guys were giving it their all even if it meant they would game over. I needed that same courage. At that moment, I didn't feel nervous. I couldn't feel nervous. I mustered all that I could and stood up, book held tightly in my arms.

"Wairuzu!" I screamed. "Just tell me what you need!"

He turned around and met my gaze. Smiling, he spoke up. "Welcome back to the fight!"

The Ronin immediately back flipped away from a shockwave the golem sent forward. The waves would have hit us if Soran didn't block them.

"Right!" Wairuzu scanned the area. "Megumi! You need to keep healing Soran while he tanks! Try to damage the golem in between as well!"

I could do that. I had a healing skill that could fill Soran's health in no time as well as some damaging skills to boot.

"Soran, keep up your Iron Wall skill! Use it to block any attacks we can't dodge!"

"Roger!" Soran planted his shield in front of the boss. Another wave hit him. His health fell but didn't empty. Of course, I saw this from another sword and shield user before. Iron Wall allows the player to withstand any attack and drop to a single bar of health.

I flipped my book open as it floated before me. Raising my hands, I casted a healing spell at Soran. His health bar immediately started filling up.

The golem's attacks consisted of random rock throws which could be dodged, his melee smashes which he would use if you got close, and his stomping shockwaves which had a wide range but could be blocked by a tank. My healing spell had a cool down timer but with the gaps in between the golem's attacks, I could heal him each time his health dropped and fight back with some poison spells that slowly decreased the enemy's health bar.

"Daize! Try to use as many poison status effects as you can to help Megumi!"

"Copy that!" Daize, standing on a boulder at a safe distance, pulled an arrow from his quiver. It glowed purple as it shot towards the golem. The blast hit and gave it a poison effect. He pulled out more normal arrows and barraged the boss with basic attacks before returning to his poison arrow skill.

At that moment, Wairuzu vaulted onto the monster and chipped away at its health. Our poison together with the amount of slashes he dealt actually made a visible dent in the golem's health bar. However, it was minuscule.

Wairuzu leapt back down, panting. "That's about as much damage as we can deal at once."

"Dude, that's barely enough…" Daize pointed out.

"We just need to keep this up!" He gritted his teeth as the rest of us repeated the process. Soran blocked, I healed, Daize shot, and Wairuzu dealt damage.

The golem's attacks could kill us in one hit but we were faster than that. We fought and fought for what felt like an eternity. At one point, I felt like we could actually pull this off. The boss's health was actually going down. That was until the true downside of VR reared its ugly face.

"Guys… I'm beat." Soran collapsed on his knee. Even if I was healing him, the fatigue he felt from taking all that damage got to him. You see, in normal video games, the most you'd feel after grinding for hours are a sore butt and stiff fingers but here, in VR, you feel everything your body goes through.

"Guys come on! We can-" Wairuzu was interrupted by a large shockwave coming from the golem. Without Soran to guard, we were all knocked down immediately. Our health levels were in a very low state.

My body felt heavy as I tried to reach for my book. I could see the others lying on the ground as the golem charged up a giant boulder. It actually waited until now to use its ultimate attack?! We were all going to die. We were going to lose the work we had put into this game so far.

"No!" Wairuzu groggily got back up, tachi in hand. "You're not going to win!"

The next thing I knew, he was surrounded in a glowing orange Aura.

"What…?" This was the last thing I managed to say before being enveloped in a bright light. Did we win? Did we lose? Who knows?

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by** **Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: Enhancer**

* * *

 ** _A/N: Greetings from college. This episode took some time to write not only because I was busy (with video games) but also because I wasn't sure how to write this. I knew I wanted Megumi to live next to a shrine but I'm not really that familiar with Japanese culture. The only knowledge I had came from anime (yes, I'm a weeb). I didn't want to disrespect anything so I did a bunch of research and stuff to portray a shrine as accurately as I could. Sorry if I got some things wrong but hey, at least we're back to the game. I won't make any promises for the next ep. so I'll just say it will come out 'eventually'. See ya soon and thanks for reading so far!_**


	4. Episode 4: Enhancer

**Episode 4: Enhancer**

 _'So...'_

Huh? Who are you?

 _'You've finally decided to let me out huh?'_

What? What are you talking about? Wait. Where am I? Why do I feel weird? What's that light?

My vision was blurry. All I could see were flames. Something was heavy. It was like I was pushing against a strong wall. As I blinked, my sight returned.

I was holding up my tachi against a giant boulder that was about to crush me. Realizing the situation I was in, I parried it to the side and jumped out of the way. The golem's fist fell to the ground as I gazed at my sword.

How was I still standing? I noticed that a strange orange Aura was emanating all around me. It was like I was engulfed in flames. My eyes and my tachi were glowing orange too.

The boss golem let out a loud roar as I raised my blade again. I didn't know what the hell happened to me but right now… it feels good.

* * *

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

"Aaaaahhh!" I screamed as I performed a heavy slash. Falling back, I noticed I did a considerable amount of damage to its health bar.

The monster reared and prepared for another shockwave. I raised my arms and braced myself for the impact before flying back into the wall. Coughing, I picked myself back up. My health would have been gone if it wasn't for a certain healer.

"Distract the golem!" Megumi yelled. "I'll get the others back up!"

Nodding, I made my way towards the behemoth. Its gaping mouth and sunken dead eyes glared at me in anger. I jumped and attempted to slash at its knees but I found myself higher than I expected.

I had managed to leap up to its head and deliver a curling slice. Another chunk of health down; whatever this ability was, it's way too overpowered. Flipping back onto solid ground, the rest of my party (save for the traitor) gathered around me.

"Okay, what kind of skill is that?!" Daize pointed at my glowing eyes.

"I don't know! Everything just happened so fast!"

"We need to hurry guys!" Soran held up his shield. "Your skill might still have a cool down timer, Wairuzu."

That's possible. If it's an actual skill, it would be pure luck that I managed to activate something so game breaking at the last moment.

"So same plan then?" The rest of them responded with a confident nod. "Right. Let's go everyone!"

As if on cue, the golem sent rocks flying at us. I ran as fast as I could. In fact, I felt faster than usual. Keeping up with my speed, I slashed the boulders away. To my surprise, my tachi was able to break through and shatter them instantly.

Managing to get in between its legs, I sliced back and forth to bring it down to its knees. The boss proceeded to pound the ground and send a shockwave hurdling towards the others.

"Iron Wall!" Soran planted his shield and took the blast as the rest stood behind him. The shockwave shook him down to a single bar of health but he didn't waver.

Megumi immediately healed the tank as Daize rose to fire his arrows.

"Poison Barrage!" Multiple purple arrows hit the golem in spectacular blasts.

"Are you all just shouting your skills now?" Megumi asked with a straight face.

"It helps with morale." Soran gave her a faint smile accompanied by a blush.

My feet slid across the ground as I leapt back. Somehow, I felt weaker. My body suddenly buckled and fell.

"Wairuzu!" Our tank quickly caught me by the shoulder and helped me back up.

"I don't think I can do this for long guys…" I panted. Guess even this skill has a limit.

"We're almost there though!" Daize eyed the health bar of the giant golem which was getting lower and lower.

He was right. We've come too far to stop now. Struggling, I lifted myself up. Even if my legs were wobbling, I gripped my sword with both hands.

I knew I wasn't going to last long though. If we were going to take this thing down, we'd need to deal a larger amount of damage in one go. But how?

Wait, back then when I hit its head, it did a lot more damage than hitting any other part. Of course! Weak spots. How could I be so stupid?

"I need to reach its head!" I told the others. "If I try to combine this buff skill with my other skills, I should be able to take it down."

"Wait! You sure you're up to it?" Daize asked after noticing my wobbling legs.

Sure I felt weaker the longer I had this buff on me but I won't let that stop me. "Yeah!"

Giving them a smile, I rushed towards the boss by myself. Come to think of it, it felt weird to smile like that again.

"Die!" I tried my hardest to jump up to the head like I did last time. However, I only managed to reach the chest. Surprised by the lack of strength I had, I hesitated which gave the golem the chance to lunge forward and knock me to the ground.

If I could bleed in this game, I probably would have coughed up some blood by now. Damn it. What the hell happened?!

I felt a comforting wind surround me. Raising my head, I found Megumi right in front of me with a concerned look on her face. No, wait. That's anger.

"Are you insane?!" She raised her voice at me which was quite surprising. "Don't go in alone!"

"But-"

"She's right you know." Daize had that condescending face again. He held his hand out like some sort of valiant knight. I laughed and stood up by myself as soon as my health went back up. Not today, your majesty.

"Stop trying to be the hero."

"If someone's trying to be the hero here, it's you." The Archer raised a brow.

I was still glowing but the flames that surrounded me were dwindling. We didn't have much time.

"Um guys?" Soran spoke up. "I think I know how to get Wairuzu up there."

The golem reared back once more. It held its hands up high to charge up another colossal boulder. This time, it was all or nothing.

Soran ran to the front line and held his shield with both hands. He gripped it tightly as Daize reached for one of his arrows, pulling out one that had a red glow. Megumi reached out and gave me a buff that increased my attack power. With a sway of her fingers, my Aura glowed brighter than usual.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Ten seconds until he releases that boulder. I ran as fast as I could towards our tank. With a single motion, I leaped up into the air.

Soran followed up by throwing his shield at my feet while Daize pulled back his arrow and let it rip. The projectile hit the shield and exploded, giving it enough force to boost me higher. Bouncing off of it, I was finally high enough to stare down the golem. With a swift curl of my longsword, I shouted.

"Crescent Slice!" My body spun around in a circle as the glowing orange Aura transferred from my body to the tachi. A crescent shaped beam of light shot out and smashed the golem in the face.

The explosion was so bright I had my eyes closed up until I hit the ground. I felt hands trying to lift me up but I couldn't stand. In fact, I couldn't move at all. My entire body was numb and my heart was racing so fast, I swear it was coming out my chest.

"Wairuzu!"

More importantly, did we do it? Did we win?

"Megumi! Heal him!"

I blinked a few times before I saw the boss collapse and disappear into blue shards. Its health bar was empty.

"I did! He's at full health!"

Thank goodness.

 ** _'Logged out'_**

* * *

Waking up in cold sweat, I sat up and let out a few shallow breaths. I felt so groggy that I barely noticed the warning signs flashing before my eyes.

 ** _'WARNING! MAXIMUM HEART RATE EXCEEDED!'_**

Right. It's that stupid safety protocol they made standard with every VR device after the NerveGear that logs you out if you start to have a heart attack.

Collapsing back onto my bed, I realized that it was night time. Did all that really just happen? Where the hell did I get such an OP skill?

I wallowed in my thoughts until I heard a ding in my ears. Sitting back up, I swiped across some tabs and clicked on the message notifications. It was from Shimpei.

 ** _Daize: 'Dude did you get logged out?! You need to get back here ASAP! We got a crap ton of EXP and gold from that boss!'_**

Of course, that boss was way beyond our levels. In a way, Arryn actually helped us level up fast. Why would she try to trick us though? What could she possibly gain from killing a couple of new players?

I quickly tapped the reply button to respond to him but I never got to finish my message. With a few knocks, my mom entered my room.

"Hiro? Are you done playing your games?"

"Not really…" I glanced at the Aura Kingdom Online symbol in the corner of my visor. If I could just…

"Well don't you think you've played enough? It's time for dinner."

"But I need to-"

"No buts, Hiro. Come on." Of course she won't listen to me. My mom was the type of person who thought she could do no wrong. Well, her whole family was like that and what was worse was that they were somehow right. As far as my mom's side goes, they have always been successful. I don't particularly like those kinds of people but that didn't mean I hated her though. I quickly deleted the message I was typing and sent a new one.

* * *

A familiar notification sound rang out. I swiped down the menu and checked the messages. Hiro had replied back already.

 ** _Wairuzu: 'Sorry dude. Gotta eat.'_**

"Daize, is he logging back in?" Soran peered over my shoulder in a delicate manner.

"He said he needs to eat." Speaking of which, did I eat? I didn't feel particularly hungry. Maybe I should get a sandwich or something. "Anyway, we have a bunch of gold to spend now. I was thinking of hitting up the gear shop."

"Sounds like fun!" My silver haired companion gave a smile that could tear down civilizations. "Megumi, you wanna come with?"

Both of us turned to the sorcerer who was hugging her book with both arms whilst leaning on a wall. She was staring off into space like she was having a vision or something.

"Uh, Megumi?" I called out to her but got no response. Before I could try again she spoke up.

"I think I'm going to take a break guys." She swiftly swiped down the menu.

"Oh okay. Maybe we could friend each oth-" Poor Soran never got to finish his sentence. In an instant, Megumi faded away as if she was never there.

"Well… I don't think we'll see her again." Shame too, she was really cute at first.

"Don't say that. She just said she needs a break. Maybe we can still send her a friend request." He swiped down his menu.

"Are you even sure she's a she Soran?"

"Right." He immediately swiped the menu away.

Virtual Reality was a tricky mistress to deal with. You never know who's who. That's also the beauty of this place. We could be whoever we wanted to be, live the lives we could never have. This technology was the ultimate escape from reality.

* * *

 _'Why can't I stop crying? What's wrong with me?'_

I stared blankly at my NerveGear as I buried my face in the pillow I was hugging. Was Arryn faking it the entire time? Every conversation we had, all the time we spent together, was it a lie? I was even about to tell her my real name.

 _'Stupid Mari. Why did you fall for that? Nevermind. Doesn't matter. I'm not going back. Never again.'_

I wiped the tears from my eyes with the pillow before feeling a rumble. My hunger called to me and how powerful it was.

"I guess I can get something from the fridge."

Stepping outside my room, I wandered across the empty house I lived in. For some reason, it seemed more lonely than usual. My Aunt is almost always out of the house so I got used to the emptiness.

Entering the bright white kitchen, I made my way to the food source known as the fridge. Inside was your usual frozen meat, vegetables, eggs, and more. I would prepare an actual meal if I wasn't so clumsy when I cook.

Microwave dinner it is then! Quick, easy, delicious. I grabbed the one with spaghetti on the cover and whistled a fun tune.

* * *

"So how's the AuraSphere?" My mom asked as she picked up a piece of meat with a fork.

"It's okay I guess." To tell you the truth, it's amazing. But you won't catch me praising my uncle any more than everyone already had.

"Are your friends also playing with you?" Dad, who was in the middle of chewing his food, attempted to speak.

"Yeah. Shimpei and Genji were with me."

"It's good to see you're still keeping in touch over the summer" My mom replied.

I mean, it's not like we live in different regions or anything. We go to the same school after all. It's just that we happen to enjoy the indoors during summer. It can get really hot when the sun decides to burn bright and who would pass up gaming indoors with the air conditioner set to max.

"Ooh! Can I try it?" My sister asked with a bright smile.

"No, sweetie. I don't want you using those things."

That's probably because she doesn't want her to end up like me. Besides, she literally can't at her age. After a bunch of kids got trapped in SAO, regulations were put in place to keep children from accessing VR. After all, it can be a terrifying experience if you don't know what you're doing.

"I'm heading back up." I carried my plate back to the sink as quickly as possible. Every ounce of me wanted to return to the Land of Light.

"Just don't stay up too late okay?" Dad gave me a faint smile.

"I won't." Almost breaking into a sprint, I rushed upstairs and entered my room. The AuraSphere lay on my desk where I left it. Time to get back into the fray.

* * *

"I can't believe this…" I collapsed on to my knees, hands curled up in fists.

"Well, look on the bright side. At least you didn't lose any of your stuff!" Soran tried to cheer me up but it didn't work. After all, I'm still level 15.

Apparently, the AuraSphere managed to log me out just as I was about to receive the boatload of EXP and gold from defeating the level 100 golem. As a result, I have not budged at all in terms of levels while my good friends were already at level 30. Thankfully, I didn't lose any items nor did I level down because the golem was already defeated before I got kicked. It still would've been nice to receive the rewards though.

"Well it's not exactly convenient for us either." Daize raised his arms. "Low level quests won't matter to us anymore but we still have to go through the main quests."

"Yeah, but you get to do so in great armour." I sneered at the armour sets they bought at the gear shop.

Daize had Robin Hood type look. His outfit consisted of a brown vest within a brown trench coat with yellow streaks highlighting the edges. The shoulders were padded with steel plates as were his knees. His pants were black and so were his boots but worst of all was his brown hat with a single yellow feather sticking out of it which annoyed me more than his glasses.

Soran, on the other hand, had a more knightly appearance. His entire armour was silver in colour with black lines around the corners. His helmet was open faced; managing to cover his eyebrows at most but still let his long white hair flow down onto his shoulders. It had a sort of silver ponytail at the back of his head as well. However, his armour looked a bit too big for his overall stature.

Their weapons were also upgraded to more flashy ones made of steel and iron. Even Daize's quiver looked deadly.

"Do you want us to lend you some gold? It's not like we can spend it all." The archer opened his menu.

"It won't matter anyway. My level has to match the armour set as well." Besides, I'd sooner die than take charity money from you.

As Daize swiped to his inventory, he paused for a second and let out a soft 'oh'.

"What is it, Daize?" Soran asked curiously.

"We can use the Launch Day Bonus item."

Both of them immediately accessed the item and were greeted with a level up sound. Flashy blue lights enveloped them as the level up sound rang out.

"CAN YOU STOP?!" I yelled in frustration. That's it, I'm quitting this game.

"So they were EXP potions." Soran said in wonder.

"Not exactly." A familiar voice appeared behind us. It was Jayce who had the same avatar as before. His clothes had changed to a more blue colour palette. He had a dark blue combat coat and black trousers to go along with his boots. It seemed like he had levelled up quite a bit since we last met.

"It's more of a level potion. Instead of giving you bonus EXP, it actually gives you five extra levels."

"Seriously?" Daize gazed in amazement. "Woah, we're level 35!"

"Yeah, that's great." I grumbled.

"It's to reward those who got this game and system on the first day."

Basically it was for those who pre-ordered the AuraSphere since it was pretty much gone from shelves after day one.

"You got to admit though, this isn't exactly a great game to start off with."

Something inside me ticked when I heard that. "What do you mean by that?"

Jayce chuckled a bit. "I mean look at the progression system. It's a joke that can be abused if you know how to take advantage of it. And not just that, the NPC's are lifeless, the monsters are generic, and there aren't even any restrictions to high level areas meaning a low level player can just wander into a dangerous place and die."

Well, he wasn't wrong about any of those things. The more I thought about it, the more it looked like my uncle had rushed the production of his first game.

"And don't get me started with the storyline. It's all over the place."

"It is still fun though..." I said under my breath.

"Sure." Jayce replied. He somehow managed to hear me. "But if you ask me, I'm jumping ship as soon as the next game comes along. The guy who made this is an idiot."

"Look dude, it's my uncle's first game. Cut him some slack." What? Why did I defend him?

"Uncle? You're related to the father of the AuraSphere?" He stopped smiling.

Whoops. We all stood there in silence. Jayce then raised his head in laughter.

"My apologies! You guys probably didn't play this game to hear me rant." He was about to speak again when a message notification suddenly popped up in front of him. "Oh, my friends are going farming. I gotta go."

"Sure." I said with an uneasy tone.

"You and your friends are welcome to join too, Wairuzu."

"I think we've had enough of parties for now." Definitely enough.

"Alright, suit yourself." He made his way to the teleport Crystal nearby. It was a large diamond like stone floating atop a gold and silver plate. "See ya around!"

He tapped through a menu before disappearing in a blue flash.

"You didn't mention the guy who made this thing was your uncle." Daize crossed his arms and smiled like an idiot.

"It didn't come up, alright?" I don't like bringing him up in every conversation I have.

"Well your friend there seemed to be against him."

"Shut up. He's not my friend." After what happened with Arryn, my guard was back up and on high alert.

"Anyways, maybe we should start farming so you can get up to our levels." Soran told me with a smile.

"I guess. Where should we start though?"

"First of all! I think we spent enough time in Port Skandia. We should try moving to the other maps." Daize was right. This game was a lot bigger than just one port and we were bound to come across some strong monsters in other areas.

"Come on then. The teleport Crystal's this way!" Daize led us to the place Jayce had gone to.

I felt like something was missing though. Like we left something behind… or someone.

"Wait, where did Megumi go?" I asked, wondering where the purple haired sorcerer had gone.

"Oh, she said she wanted to take a break. She logged out a while ago." Soran replied.

"Huh…" I gazed at the sky, wondering if we should invite her along.

Daize smiled. "You want to invite her along don't you?"

Stop reading my thoughts!

"Pshhhh. No." Probably better this way. Can't trust anyone after what had happened. Even if she helped us a lot, it was still too risky.

"If you say so." The archer was the first to activate the Crystal. He selected an area called Helonia Coast and disappeared in a blue flash. Soran was next. He did the same thing and teleported away.

Before activating the Crystal, I stood there, hesitating somehow. My eyes fell to the ground as I got lost in my thoughts. After a minute, I made my mind up.

* * *

The plastic tray made a soft thud as it fell to the bottom of the trash can. That spaghetti was amazing for a microwave dinner. I made my way back to my room, planning on listening to some music before going to sleep. As I entered, I found myself gazing at the NerveGear once more.

 _'No. Don't think about that, Mari.'_

Lying down on my bed, I pulled out my smartphone which was getting a bit old, to be honest, and selected my music app.

 _'Wait. My earphones. Where'd I-'_ I heard a loud notification sound pop from my laptop. Curiously, I moved over back to my desk and clicked on it.

"Friend request?" I noticed it came from the VR program. The request was from…

"Wairuzu?"

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by** **Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: A Knight's Honor**


	5. Episode 5: A Knight's Honor

**Episode 5: A Knight's Honor**

 ***BUZZ BUZZ***

I carefully lifted myself off the comfort of my own bed and groggily rubbed my eyes. Glaring at the obnoxiously loud phone, I let out a big sigh.

 _'Time to get to work.'_

Hello there, my name is Genji. If I were to describe myself, I'd say I'm nothing special. Honestly, I'm just like every other guy. Maybe, I'm a bit shyer and quieter than the rest but I try not to let those things bother me.

My loose shirt rustled around as I stretched my arms to the max. Thankfully I had short black hair in real life so I wouldn't have to deal with bedhead. My mom always tells me that every time I question her reason to keep it that way. First, I had to take out the trash from every trash can in the house and by house, I meant apartment. The place was small though, so it was pretty easy to find the three sole bins and empty them into a black plastic bag.

Lugging the package on my shoulder, I made my way to the door and put on my slippers. The air outside was cool and refreshing; it was the morning after all. The heat wave was just getting started. I was on the seventh floor of the apartment complex so I headed to the elevator to save myself the effort. It was quiet and peaceful. I loved the simple things like this. It made me feel happy. It didn't take long for the elevator to arrive after I had pressed the button. To my surprise, a woman dressed in a tank top and jogging pants came out of the shaft.

"Oh, good morning Suzuki-san." I greeted with a bow.

"Sotomura-kun? Up early again I see." She gave me a warm smile.

"Yeah, I got chores to do." With a chuckle, I held up the bag of garbage in my hands.

"Well, I'll try not to keep you here for long. Try not to overwork yourself." I nodded at her advice as she walked away to her unit.

"I won't." Suzuki-san was just one of the many neighbors I had in this place. You see, I lived alone with my mother who was quite old. I'm the fourth child to be born into my family since I have three sis-

"Oh!" I immediately stuck my leg into the closing frame of the elevator and gave a sigh of relief. Entering it, I hit the ground floor button.

Now where was I? Ah yes, I have three sisters. You'd think it would be a hassle growing up as the only son among a bunch of girls but it was okay; it was great even. Although, because of that, I'm told I have a feminine side.

Arriving at the ground floor, I made my way towards the big dumpster at the side of the building. It wasn't far, thankfully, so I managed to get rid of the package I had quickly. This was but one of the many things I had to do.

I checked the time on my watch. "6:00 AM. Still enough time to cook breakfast and clean the house."

* * *

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

The sweet smell of fried eggs and ham filled the air as I flipped the food once more. The crackle was almost hypnotic. I had two plates ready beside me, one for me and one for mom. Since my sisters left a long time ago, what with work and their marriages, only I remained to take care of my mother. If you're wondering where my dad was, he works abroad and sends us money, souvenirs, and other neat things.

Imagine the surprised look in my face when I got the brand new AuraSphere from him, on launch day too! I mean, our family wasn't exactly in a comfortable place. We still struggled when it came to money but we always manage to pull through somehow. I even considered taking a part time job at one point but I'd honestly rather stay with mom in case she needed anything.

"All done!" I grinned at my handiwork and plated them up. With one swift move, I carried the two dishes in my hands and readied the dining table. Our unit may have been small but it had all the essentials

"Mom? Breakfast's ready!" I called out to her. She emerged from her room, already well groomed. I noticed the smile that formed on her face as she inhaled the aroma.

"Smells delicious, Gen-bo." There she goes with that nickname again. It's fine, I've gotten used to it at this point anyways.

I joined her at the table as she picked up her wooden chopsticks and pulled them apart. I took mine and realized it was still in its plastic packaging.

"Itadakimasu." We both said before digging in.

Some time passed before she started the conversation. "Gen-bo, how's the toy your father got you?"

"The AuraSphere? It's great! I've never had something like this before." It was the first real gaming device I was given. Before, when I used to play online games with my friends, I would just head to a computer cafe and spend two to three hours online. It's the little surprises like these which really make me appreciate the family I have. Sometimes, I still wonder if they should have spent that much money on me.

"Are you sure it's okay though? Like, I didn't really need it."

"Are you saying you want to return it?"

"N-no I- Well you see-" I couldn't find the right words to describe what I was thinking. My mother just chuckled at me. She probably already understood.

"Gen-bo, it's a gift from your father as a reward for doing well in school, not to mention taking such good care of me. Accept it with pride."

I straightened myself and smiled. "Of course, mother."

* * *

I ran as fast as my legs would take me which, with my armor, wasn't much. My class wasn't made for mobility anyways.

"Guys! Wait up!" My shouts to my friends barely registered they were casually strolling along the beach.

"Keep up then!" Wairuzu shouted back.

It had been a few days since we did the impossible and defeated a level 100 golem, reaping the rewards in the process. Except for the swordsman of course but he was already over that. I hope. We had moved to a new area called Helonia Coast. It was a beautiful place which had a forest and a couple of small settlements joined together by an expansive beach. The monsters we fought during the main quests here were definitely more powerful than before so, thankfully, Wairuzu managed to get to level 20, however, we were still trying to find more things to do before we left this area for the next.

"This place is nice." Daize gazed at the shoreline. "Say, you don't think there are swimsuits on sale?"

"Why would we need swimsuits?" Wairuzu asked with a deadpanned expression.

"Well it's a beach, isn't it?" The archer sighed. "Why isn't anyone having fun here?"

He was right. This place seemed empty, save for the small number of players walking back and forth without stopping. Although the correct answer would probably be that this place was not part of the safe zone like the towns were making it a hassle to relax or swim.

"I'll tell ye why!"

Everyone collectively turned around and gasped at some old man sitting behind us in the shade. He had a simple sleeveless top along with shorts to go with the sunhat he wore. He was obviously an NPC.

"Around these parts lives a Pirate King named Bluto!"

"Cool, how much EXP can we get from killing him?" Wairuzu immediately inquired.

"Those who dare venture in his territory are greeted with the edge of his blade!" He raised his fist for a dramatic effect. None of us flinched as his eyes looked down. Silence filled the air as we glanced at each other. "I just hope dear Selena is alright."

"Selena?" I moved closer to hear what he had to say. However, he stayed silent, eyes fixed on the ground. "Huh?"

Wairuzu stepped up and snapped his fingers right in front of the fisherman's face. "Yo, old dude. Why are you not saying anything?"

"I'll tell ye why!"

"Yup, that's all we're getting out of him!" The swordsman backed off as the NPC repeated his introductory dialogue. I guess this still is a game after all.

"I think he gets triggered by the word 'why'." Daize scratched his chin, obviously in deep thought. "It's weird that a quest didn't pop up though."

"Maybe it was just exposition about the area?" I suggested. Every NPC had dialogue (that they repeated every time you talked to them). Sometimes they would talk about their day or about relevant news regarding the map they were in. If you were lucky, they would give you quests. However, this was not one of those NPC's.

"He was very specific about the details though." Wairuzu started scratching his chin as well. I did the same without thinking. "Maybe we should check out the notice board again to see if anything new popped up."

The swordsman was talking about the cork board in the middle of the square in Helonia Town, the main hub of this map. This board contained all the optional quests and even quests posted by other players. Each map has at least one so everyone has something to do.

"Let us make haste then!" Daize exclaimed in an over the top manner. I always found it funny when he does that. Wairuzu just gets annoyed though.

As we were trudging through the beach, the swordsman suddenly stopped in his tracks after getting a message notification.

"What's up?" I asked him, curiously gazing as he typed back a reply.

"Can we stop by the teleport Crystal for a sec?"

"Why?" The archer asked.

"You'll see."

* * *

 **Yesterday**

"Ugh…" I stretched my legs atop my bed while plugged in to my phone. Another day at the shrine and I might actually break.

Thankfully, I can relax now to some tunes. My taste in music has been considered weird by others. I like EDM mainly, especially the American ones. They sing in English but I can still understand some words, I guess. It wasn't long before I started tapping with my fingers to the beat. A notification sound suddenly rang in my ears. I checked my phone and found another message from Wairuzu. Luckily, I found a messenger app on my phone that allowed me to connect to the same program on my laptop. Apparently, the phones today can even support VR using the app; too bad I had an old one.

I flicked through the countless notifications from the YouTube channels I subscribed to; I'll probably watch them later. Finally, I got to his message.

 ** _Wairuzu: 'We're almost done with Helonia Coast's main quest if you wanna join us.'_**

I sighed and immediately typed back.

 _ **Megumi: 'I told you, I'm not playing this game again.'**_

Putting down my phone, I stared at the ceiling. To my surprise, the reply came right away.

 ** _Wairuzu: 'You sure? I know you haven't logged in since the golem.'_**

Yes, Wairuzu. I was definitely sure I didn't want to go back to the game where I was tricked and betrayed. I was going to type that but for some reason I typed something else.

 ** _Megumi: 'Idk. I'll think about it.'_**

I mean, I still haven't gotten that far into the game. Why let one bad experience ruin it?

 _'No, Mari. You said it yourself. You're never playing that damn game again.'_

* * *

 **Today**

 _'What am I doing here…?'_ I scanned the crowd for the guys but had no luck. I told Wairuzu that I'd wait for them at the teleport Crystal. Maybe this was a stupid idea. My hand was about to reach for the menu when someone called out to me.

"Yo!" Among the crowd, I saw a familiar orange haired swordsman wave at me. It's too late to turn back now.

"Megumi?" Behind him was Soran who gasped alongside Daize who looked surprised to see me. I noticed the new armor they had.

"Hi guys." I tried my best to greet them.

"I asked her to come along. Figured we could use a healer." Wairuzu explained with a nonchalant look on his face.

 _'Is that the only reason you invited me…?'_ I felt my left eye twitch a bit.

"Well, now that you're here, why don't I friend you before you run off again." Daize entered the menu and sent me a friend request.

"Oh! Me too!" Soran jumped a bit, sending his own friend request.

The notifications appeared immediately. My finger hesitated a bit. What if they turned out the same way Arryn did? I mean, we did fight together and all but… I don't know.

"Just tell me one thing, can I trust you guys?"

All three of them let out a 'huh?' at different volumes.

"What do you mean by that?" The archer scratched the back of his neck and pouted.

Soran was the next one who spoke up. "If I may…"

* * *

"…I know you don't have the best impression of online games after that whole situation with Arryn, but I think you should stick around. In my experience, games are more fun with friends."

That was my honest opinion, of course. Every time we played together was fun. Even if we weren't winning, the time I spent online with these guys was amazing.

"Well…" Megumi started adorably twirling the ends of her purple hair. She did so for a few seconds before sighing and accepting the requests Daize and I sent.

"Thanks..." I immediately grinned and bowed down. "I look forward to working with you!"

"Woah, Soran!" She held her hands up. "No need to be so formal."

"Oh!" Embarrassed, I immediately straightened up and laughed. "Sorry, I got carried away."

"Anyways, what were you guys up to?"

"We were about to head to the notice board to look for quests." Wairuzu swiped down the party menu and selected Megumi's name. "Here, I'll add you to the party."

"Right…" She understandably wavered a bit before accepting the party invite.

"Come on, notice board is over here lady and gents!" Daize waved his right hand as he walked past us. He was always the one who led the party forward even if Wairuzu was the leader. We usually just followed suit since he had the best sense of direction.

Moving over to the square, we found a bunch of players gathered around the board. As we got nearer, an icon appeared on our display. It was a brown diamond with a white question mark in the middle of it.

"Wait. What's this?" Megumi asked as she pointed to the icon. Not knowing what it did, she was surprised when the quest menu appeared in front of her. She probably didn't know about how the notice board worked.

I softly chuckled as I calmly explained to her. "You don't actually need to be right in front of the notice board to open the quest menu. You just have to be in the general area."

"I see…" She started scrolling across the list and gave me a cute smile. "Thanks, Soran!"

My face flushed red as I nervously laughed. I've been told I blush easily; I guess that unfortunately translated into VR as well. Hopefully they didn't notice this one. I glanced towards the others who were busy scrolling down the list as well.

"Nothing but repeated fetch quests and the main ones we've already done." Daize sighed with a disappointed look on his face. "We've definitely done all that we could here."

"Hey!" Our sorcerer pouted, reminding us that she still hasn't completed the main quests in the area. There wasn't much to them anyway; we just had to kill a bunch of stuff for the mayor and fight a crab boss on the beach. The story line was so forgettable, we zoned out through most of the dialogue.

"What are you talking about, Daize? There's a new one right here." Wairuzu said.

"Huh? Lemme see." The archer scooted over and glanced at his menu. I followed as well and put myself to the swordsman's left side.

"There's nothing there…" I told him. The quest he was pointing at was just a blank rectangle.

"You guys don't see it? It's the one with orange text." Wairuzu immediately tapped the rectangle, making a quest screen appear in front of all of us.

"The Pirate King?" I read the quest name which was in the normal white color. I noticed it also had a special marker next to it. It looked like the Aura Kingdom Online logo but orange. Where the heck did that quest come from anyway?

"That's a bit generic for a name, isn't it?" Daize asked, clearly not as curious as I was.

"What does that symbol mean?" Megumi pointed to the same marker I saw.

"I don't know, as long as it gives me EXP." Wairuzu accepted the quest. He spoke of EXP as if it was a rare commodity. As soon as the screen was gone, we received our first objective: Find Luther.

"Luther..." Pulling down the minimap, I found the quest marker located next to the town's inn nearby. "He's not that far."

Led by Daize yet again, we moved over to another part of Helonia near the North side. Walking past other players, I realized how lively the game was at this point. There were more and more people joining every day. Arriving in front of the inn, we found the man the marker had pinpointed. He was standing behind a stall chatting with another player who was purchasing an item from him. He had long, tied back black hair which was kept neatly in a ponytail. His outfit consisted of a yellow jacket along with something that looked similar to a bolo tie on his neck. Around his waist were two books which emphasized his smart appearance, especially with the narrow glasses on his face. As we neared, his green eyes glanced in our direction.

"Luther?" Wairuzu asked.

"That's me, need to buy anything?"

"We're here about the Pira-"

"Shush." Luther raised his right hand and interrupted the swordsman before turning around and waving at us to follow. "Come, we shall discuss this matter inside."

Come to think of it, we've never actually visited the inn before. Its name was the Golden Coast. The inside was bustling with both NPC's serving tables and players hanging out. Bright lamps hung from the ceiling while wooden tables and benches were lined up in columns. All of the players had different weapons and different avatars. It was actually quite interesting to see how they customized their own characters.

Luther led our party to the bar where he nodded at the bartender. The man, whose only patch of hair was his bushy moustache, nodded back and pressed a button underneath the table. A secret entrance suddenly slid open from the stone wall to reveal a staircase leading down to the basement. Luther made his way down, leaving the rest of us staring at the stairs.

"Ladies first?" Daize grinned at Megumi.

"Yeah, no." She replied with a sudden push, making the archer the first to descend.

It didn't take us long to reach the underground base Luther was apparently running. The room was filled with weapons, papers, and even a rack of armor. In the middle was a table with a couple of coins and a map of Helonia Coast. It was your typical secret base. To our surprise, a woman greeted us. She had a similar but more formal outfit compared to Luther with a brown and red color scheme. Her brown hair and blue eyes compensated for the almost visible wrinkles she had on her face.

"Mayor Madeline?!" Three of us gasped in unison.

"Sorry, who?" Megumi tilted her head in confusion.

"Right, I don't believe you've met the mayor of Helonia." Wairuzu said.

We had the chance to speak to her during one of our main quests but I never expected her to be in a secret base. Usually she would be in the town hall greeting players and answering any questions they might have had about the area.

"Hello, everyone. Glad you could make it here safely." The mayor greeted us. "Luther, would you kindly inform them of what happened."

"Sorry for dragging you here, by the way. As you know, Bluto has eyes all over Helonia Coast. You can never be too safe." The merchant explained.

"Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing pirates in town." I added. They were the classic scruffy looking pirates you'd see in movies or TV shows. I just thought they were the local guards.

"Unfortunately, the Pirate King's tyranny has helped him take control of the entirety of Helonia. The people here live under his rule." Luther continued. "We can't have true peace until we take his regime down."

"Wait, can't you do something? You are the mayor right?" Megumi told Madeline as she sat on a nearby chest.

"Unfortunately, they have me on a leash. You see…" The mayor had a gloomy expression on her face that worried me a little bit. "…they have my daughter."

"What?" My eyes widened. So they were using a hostage to control the mayor of Helonia? That was despicable!

"Her name is Selena. She's a brave gal. When people see her smile, it's refreshing, giving them a little proper boost." Luther smiled in a nostalgic way. "We played together when we were kids, and in everything, from racing to tree-climbing to fish catching, I could never beat her."

"What happened to her?" I asked.

"She disappeared one night. None of the guards saw a thing. The following day, we prepared to search for her but instead received a message from the pirates." Madeline told her story with a clenched fist. "In the letter, they said they had Selena as a prisoner and demanded full control of the town. I had no choice obviously."

"No one's gone and rescued her yet?" Daize spoke deductively. "You do have men, don't you?"

"Unfortunately, the letter also demanded that I disband the town's guard."

"That's precisely why you're here." Luther replied. "We have no one else to turn to."

"Of course you don't." Megumi said.

"We'll have to make preparations first." The merchant led us to the map of Helonia. "We've located the pirate base but it's heavily guarded. We'll need to cause a distraction and sneak inside."

"Wait, stealth?" I asked. With my armor, stealth wasn't really my forte.

"We can't start a full blown war with the pirates until we know Selena's safe." Madeline told me. She was right; in these kinds of situations, the hostage's safety was the top priority. "We've prepared explosives that you'll plant near the coast. Once they're set off, all you need to do is sneak in and find my daughter."

"We'll be waiting at the west edge of the forest. Once you find her, head there immediately." Luther said. "Does everyone understand?"

We all nodded, save for Wairuzu who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He had been abnormally quiet this entire time. I wondered what he was contemplating.

"Please bring my daughter back." Madeline pleaded to us. At that moment, I felt something inside me awaken. I felt more fired up than usual. With one swift movement, I put my closed right fist to my chest which made a clink.

"We will ensure your daughter's safe return! I swear this on a knight's honor!" It took me a while before my face was flushed with red and I was nervously laughing along with the rest of my friends. Well, excuse me for a bit of role-playing…

"I like the enthusiasm." The Mayor gave me a sweet smile that reminded me of my mother. "Thank you all."

* * *

After we left the inn, we stopped by the square once more to discuss our plans. Megumi and I sat down on a wooden bench while Wairuzu and Daize were leaning on the backrest.

"So we just need to plant some explosives then infiltrate the base at night." The swordsman scanned through the quest objectives which had updated after Luther and Madeline had explained everything.

The archer cleared his throat. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?" Wairuzu tilted his head.

"You and Megumi still have basic gear. Why don't you two buy some while we go and plant the bombs?"

"What? Come on dude. I'll buy gear afterwards."

"Oh yeah." Megumi glanced down at her clothes. "I kinda want to update my look as well before we go on this quest."

"It's a party quest anyway. As long as one of us fulfills the objective, we can progress." The archer grinned at the knowledge he had about the game that he probably read from an online wiki.

"But-"

"Don't worry I'll make sure we're together before we detonate the bombs." I tried to console him as much as I could. The last thing I'd want was for Wairuzu to feel left out.

Megumi sighed as she grabbed the swordsman by the arm. "Come on, Wairuzu."

Off they went to visit the blacksmith. I watched as the swordsman shook off the sorcerer's hand all the while walking father away from us.

"That means we get to go pirate hunting." Daize gave me a thumbs up. To tell you the truth, I was restless. It was exciting to fight pirates and free a town of oppressed citizens. This game, this new world was my chance to be the knight I've always wanted to be.

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by** **Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: The Pirate King**


	6. Episode 6: The Pirate King

**Episode 6: The Pirate King**

My eyes scanned through the armor sets displayed in front of the blacksmith's forge as Wairuzu waited impatiently beside me. The forge itself had the basics: a fiery oven, an anvil, and a bucket of water. I had at least a vague idea of what each piece of equipment was for. The blacksmith was bald and had an eye-patch along with a beard. He wore your typical apron and what looked to me like brown oven mitts. In front of him were four mannequins, each of which displayed armor but none of them were compatible with my class.

"Wairuzu? There aren't any sorcerer armor sets." I told him as he sighed and went up to the mannequin in front of me. With a swift tap on the chest-plate, a menu popped up as he moved aside.

"You tap the mannequin to open the armor choices. Choose one and it'll display it in front of you."

"Oh…" I scrolled through the menu and selected the sorcerer tab. "Why didn't you tell me this in the first place?"

The only response I got from him was a slight chuckle.

 _'You just wanted to make fun of me, didn't you?!'_

I started tapping through the choices laid out in front of me with puffed cheeks. Most of it was a bit too revealing for my taste. Fortunately, I found one that looked cute enough. It was a long coat that looked had a very intricate design. The white top was disconnected from the sleeves by metal shoulder pads while a brown patch covered the chest area and ran down the middle of the waist. The bottom, which resembled a green frilly skirt, had the lower blue part of the coat extend out the ankles. Black and white striped knee high socks covered that legs and matched the shorts while the high heeled boots were the same white as the top with a single blue gem in the front. To top it all off, quite literally, was the cute hat. It was large and puffy with a black base surrounding the blue top. This was definitely the armor for me.

Before purchasing it, however, I glanced at the swordsman who was beside me looking through the armor as well.

"Hey, Wairuzu?"

"Hm?" He kept his eyes on the store menu.

"Why did you invite me back?"

"I told you, we needed-"

"A healer, yeah. I know." I sighed. "Is that really it?"

"Can I ask you something? Why did you accept my friend request in the first place?"

"Huh? Well I… I don't know."

He tapped on the menu once. The armor he had chosen immediately formed around his body, replacing his basic gear. This time, his short coat was replaced with a long dark red one that wrapped around his body, leaving only his black pants exposed. The shoulders, knees and elbows were padded with black leather. Around his neck was an orange scarf that extended to his waist.

"To me, the fact that you not only accepted my request but also logged in once more means that part of you still wants to play this game. Am I right?"

"Well-"

"You might want to buy a new Grimoire or just upgrade your current one by the way." He pointed out, making me lose my train of thought.

"Oh, is that what this thing's called." I took my book of death out and stared at it. It was only now that I noticed all the little details on it. The edges we're lined with steel while the cover was a bluish purple hue. The center of the book glowed a bright purple while the pages themselves were filled with glowing scribbled text that was not readable at all.

"Sure maybe I'll-"

"Upgrades are usually cheaper but then maybe you'd want a different Grimoire type. And you can also dye your book along with your armor for a small cost if you want."

I could feel my brain burst with the amount of information seething in. "You sure know a lot about my class."

Wairuzu scratched the back of his head. "Well, I kinda read up about sorcerers. This was the class I was originally planning to pick."

"Oh? Why didn't you then?"

"It's… it's a long story."

"Maybe you should tell me about it some time." I let out a chuckle before going back to my business. Scanning through all the Grimoires, I finally settled on a better one that still had the purple color I liked. Giving my armor the same treatment, I had what I wanted.

Twirling around, I giggled at the purple hue my clothes now had. "What do you think?"

"It looks great..." Wairuzu, typing out a message to who I assumed to be Daize, said without glancing at me. "Come on, I want to catch up before they do anything fun."

Okay, it's fine. I just wanted another opinion. Or maybe it was just the part of me that wanted to be praised. Who knows?

* * *

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

My keen eyes glanced across the brush as I carefully made my way to the next tree. The forest we we were in was denser than usual. The bow on my back rustled softly as I leaned against a tree. However, the silence was broken by a loud clank from behind.

"Shhhh!" I glared at the feminine knight who accompanied me.

"Sorry, I'm not that stealthy." He whispered as loudly as he could. "Are we even going the right way, Daize?"

"You underestimate my navigation skills yet again?" A grin formed on my face while the only reply I got was a roll of the eyes. They didn't roll too far before they were fixed on something beyond us.

"Pirate!" Soran pointed which made another clink go off. Honestly, his armor was way too noisy.

Glancing at the direction our valiant knight had directed me at. A pirate who had a brown vest and baggy trousers was walking around on what I assumed was a patrol. His hair receded underneath his pirate hat while a scimitar was visible on the hilt at his waist.

"This must be the edge of the base." I cleverly pointed out.

"Well, if you had looked at the minimap beforehand, you would have made that conclusion a while back."

"Shush, dear Soran. I'm thinking."

The base couldn't be too far from that one patrol so if we could just have a visual on the overall area, we could find the places to plant the bombs much faster. We had four bombs in total which were marked as quest items.

"Give me the bombs." I told my partner.

"Huh? O-okay…" The Knight reached for his inventory menu and sent the items to me. Once I received them, I formulated the next part of my brilliant plan.

"I'm going to need you to stay here while I plant the bombs. Once I'm done, I'll head back here and we can detonate them!"

"But how about Wairuzu and Megumi?"

Right. I forget they existed for a while. Sighing, I slid further down the trunk of the tree.

"Fine. I'll give them five minutes after I plant the bombs." Stretching my arms out, I got ready to do my thing.

"How are you going to sneak up to them by the way?" Soran asked.

"Why through Mother Nature of course!" Adjusting my glasses, I knelt down in a crouched position.

"Mother Natu-"

With graceful speed, I ran up the tree we were huddled to. It only took a second for me to reach the top branches. Thankfully the trees in Helonia Forest were tall and dense enough to hide me from the pirates' view. All I had to do was jump. My archer class was full of surprises like this. It's a sort of hunting skill used to track down prey by jumping across trees. Or at least that's what I think it's for. Nevertheless, I had a good use for my acrobatics skill.

Before I knew it, I was directly above a guard pirate. Jumping across, I made my way past him and towards what definitely looked like a base. Within the brush and foliage, a large camp was set up. Spiked wooden fences lined the perimeter while dozens of pirates patrolled around the gates. The tents within the base were brown and white in color, boasting a large symbol depicting a black ship. From my view alone, there seemed to be too many pirates for us to handle. Thankfully, we didn't have to storm the base right away. I adjusted my glasses before scanning the area. With my perfect vision, I spotted four glowing spots around the outer rim.

 _'I guess that's where I plant the bombs.'_

Moving to a closer tree, I dropped down as quietly as I could and selected the bomb item. The dirt immediately gave way for the wooden barrel I had. I didn't even know these were barrels. The ground covered it completely, leaving only the fuse. Running back up the tree, I prepared to do the same for the other spots. The last one was located in between two guards who would probably be having a hearty conversation if they were given more dialogue. No choice then.

Unsheathing my weapon, I drew two arrows. Another thing I managed to upgrade after our battle with the golem was the amount of arrows I could fire at once. If I could just aim this shot correctly…

 ***Whoosh***

The two arrows made their mark on the faces of the pirates. They evaporated into blue particles as they collapsed onto the ground. I smirked as I dropped to the ground. Another awesome kill by Daize! As I planted the bomb, I was greeted by the loudest notification sound ever. It was apparently a message from Wairuzu. Freezing in my tracks, I quickly spun around. Turns out I had alerted a dozen guards who were already rushing to my location.

"Oh no." Quickly, I thought of all my options which weren't that vast, to be honest. Inhaling deeply, I made my choice. I drew another arrow and pointed it at the assailants running towards me. With a single move, I turned around and aimed it at the fuse of the bomb in the ground.

* * *

 ***BOOM***

"DAMN IT!" I broke into a sprint after hearing the loud explosion from the forest. Those guys started without me!

"Wairuzu! Wait up!" Megumi trailed behind me trying to keep up pace. "Was that explosion them?"

Slowing down a bit, I spoke in between breaths. "Most likely. That means they've begun the attack!"

* * *

My vision faded from the white blur I saw when the barrel exploded. Apparently, I just had to blow one up to ignite the others. Thankfully, the blast didn't manage to take out all of my health. Although I was pretty sure I was near death. Sitting up, I held my aching head in my hands. The blast was still ringing in my ears. What a stupid decision I made…

"Well, well…" A figure approached me from the front, sword drawn to my face. Adjusting my eyes, I saw a pirate in front of me. He looked different than the rest. His hair was as long as Soran's but of a blood red color which contrasted his sky blue eyes. His outfit didn't seem ragged like the others. In fact, it looked really clean and polished along with the gold lined pirate hat on his head.

"So you're the scoundrel who almost blew up our base…"

"Bluto, I presume." I said, confidently.

The pirate chuckled. What's so funny? "The name's Mac, not Bluto. I'm the leader of the Catseye Pirates."

 _'The Pirate King?! But our information said that Bluto was the leader.'_

"Although, if you're looking for Bluto, he's probably back at camp. Unfortunately for you though, I don't think you'll get to meet him." Mac raised his sword and prepared to strike me down. Oh well, I'd just respawn back in town. Didn't really matter.

However, to my surprise, another blade met his. Jumping back, Mac gritted his teeth as a valiant knight stood over me.

"Stay away from him!" Soran held his sword and shield proudly.

"My hero." I chuckled as I stood back up and chugged some healing potions from my inventory.

"I thought we were supposed to wait for Wairuzu and Megumi."

"Well, blame Wairuzu for sending me a message in the middle of sneaking around."

"Enough!" Mac shouted, raising his sword once more. "Men! Attack the intruders!"

A large group of pirates converged on our location, each armed with varying weapons like scimitars, axes, and clubs. A flurry of hits came our way but were ultimately blocked by Soran's large shield. I returned the favor by shooting arrows back whenever I saw an opening. However, it seemed as though the waves of pirates were endless.

"They won't stop coming!" The knight shouted.

"They must have a spawn point or something! We might need to-"

All of a sudden, a crescent shock wave hit a row of enemies. Out of the brush appeared none other than the swordsman himself along with our sorcerer.

* * *

Sheathing my tachi, I gave our archer a piece of my mind. "Couldn't wait to start the chaos, huh Daize?!"

"Well, I had no choice! Your message gave me away!"

"You know you can set that to silent right?!"

"Guys!" Megumi yelled. "Not the time to be fighting!"

Glancing around, I realized more pirates were heading our way. Behind all of them was a man with long red hair.

"Is that Bluto?" I asked while slashing at two pirates to our right

"Mac. Apparently, he's the leader." Daize fell back and drew some arrows.

"But didn't they sa-" Megumi dodged a swing and returned fire with a blast of light. "-say Bluto's the Pirate King?!"

"I don't know!" His majesty was clearly wearing himself out, firing arrow after arrow and killing a dozen enemies. "Is it me or do they keep coming?!"

He was right, it was like the game was spawning an infinite number of enemies. But why would it do that? Unless…

"The objective!" I shouted to the rest. "The objective isn't to take down the base. We need to rescue Selena!"

"I'll go!" Soran held up his shield and readied his legs. "Everyone, stay behind me!"

Following his lead, we lined up behind the knight. With a bright flash, he ran in a straight line and knocked all the pirates aside. With a clear path, we charged into the base, passing Mac who had a surprised look on his face.

"Spread out! Find anyone that looks like a Selena!" This was originally a stealth mission but now, we had to fight our way through.

"What the heck is a Selena supposed to look like?" Daize complained in an annoying tone.

"Just find a girl I guess?" Megumi suggested.

"The tent." I heard Soran whisper to himself. He had his eyes fixed on the main tent on the top of the hill. "I have a feeling she's there!"

"Right, not like we have any better guesses." Keeping behind Soran, we ran up the hill to the huge tent. As if on cue, a young woman came out with eyes of horror.

She had long orange hair, similar to mine but much lighter, and blue green eyes. Her blue and yellow dress seemed to be in a good condition while her white puffy hat was a bit wrinkled. The girl held her right hand to her chest as we approached her.

"Lady Selena...?" Soran stepped forward. I wondered if he noticed his face was red. "My name is Soran. My friends and I have come to liberate you from the pirates!"

He sheathed his sword and held his hand out, expecting her to take it. Before she could answer, a sword swung past us and hit the knight across the back. Soran staggered as he pulled his sword back out and faced the attacker. We all followed suit. There, right in front of us was Mac who had a look of seething rage on his face. In fact, I've never seen an NPC look this convincingly angry.

"Stay away from her!" He screamed.

"Hey, that's our line dude!" Getting ready to swing my sword, I was interrupted by none other than the damsel in distress.

"Stop! Don't hurt him, please!" Selena begged.

"Huh?!" Everyone collectively turned around.

Mac spoke up again. "You people of Helonia are all the same! Brutes who cause destruction for their own amusement!"

"Excuse me?" We're not exactly from Helonia but we aren't brutes either. "I'm pretty sure you and your gang are the brutes, taking over the Coast and such."

"We did no such thing! The guards in the town are precisely why Selena and I had to run off together."

"Wait, so you went to the pirates of your own will?" Daize asked the girl who then silently nodded.

"I love him! But my mother could never let us be together."

"Oh… I see." Soran lowered his head in embarrassment. He still was a hopeless romantic, after all.

"There, there." Megumi aided him by patting his back.

"Wait, so let me get this straight." Sheathing my weapon, I approached Mac with open palms. "Selena didn't go missing, she went with you to the pirates. And also it wasn't you that sent the letter stating that she was being held hostage?"

"Why would we do that? Her mother is troubled enough as is. The letter we sent stated that she had chosen to run away."

"This doesn't add up." Megumi scratched her head in confusion. "The letter they received said that she was held hostage. Not to mention, everyone we spoke to never mentioned Mac. They just said Bluto was the leader."

"Bluto is my general. Why would he-"

A loud round of laughter emerged nearby. A man dressed in heavy leather armor approached us. In his hands was a giant battle-axe as long as my tachi. His footsteps echoed with thuds. Raising his hat, we got a good look at his face.

"No way!" Daize stepped back.

I couldn't contain my surprise either. "Old dude?!"

It was the same NPC we met back at the beach. We thought he was some fisherman before but who would've thought he was a pirate general?!

"Bluto! What's the meaning of this?!" Mac lowered his sword.

"While ye was spending time with yer 'beloved', me and the boys actually got some work done!" For some reason, he actually looked more intimidating without his fisherman gear. "Now, the whole town fears Bluto The Pirate King!"

"Who said you were the Pirate King." Mac pointed his blade at him.

"Oh, just everyone. It was easy enough to spread rumors about me. I am the Pirate King after all, Mac. Or I will be soon!"

Another large group of pirates spawned around us. Mac, along with Selena, stood with us back to back. There was clearly too many for us to handle.

"This is, what do ye call it? Ah yes, a mutiny!" Bluto let out another laugh.

"Not on our watch! Everyone!" I glanced over as the rest of my party prepared to fight. Before anyone could make a move, a blue blur landed on the battlefield.

"Hope you guys don't mind the help!" A familiar face raised his blue tachi in the air.

"Jayce?!" Or at least I thought it was just him. Two other people entered the base. One had spiky black hair along with a great axe and the other had a familiar green ponytail along with dual swords. Megumi stepped back with her hands shaking. Her eyes were wide as she spoke.

"Arryn…"

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by** **Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: Arryn**

* * *

 **A/N: Salutations! I hope ya'll are enjoying the story so far. "Constructive" criticism would be appreciated as well, I've written 2 multi-chapter series so far (Finishing 1 and leaving the other on a hiatus that may or may not be forever) so I think AKO is my most well written fanfic so far but I know I still have room to improve. As for updates: I've changed the category of this story to Crossover (SAO x Aura Kingdom) because even if I'm ignoring most of the features and storylines from AK, I'm still using it as a base for the story I want to tell. Also release schedule for each episode is every Saturday night (Between 10PM and 12AM). So far, I seem to be able to write every week despite the ever growing pit of despair that is college. That's all fo nao. P E C E**


	7. Episode 7: Arryn

**Episode 7: Arryn**

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

"Arryn…" I felt my legs wobble at the sight of her. Was this fear or anger? I didn't know. I wanted to punch her with all my might but at the same time I felt too sick in my stomach to do so. Her armor was clearly updated to cover more of her body in a thick leather plate.

She glanced over to our direction, her face as uneasy as ours. Clearly, she was surprised to see us too. Before she could step closer, the rest of my party pointed their weapons at her with Wairuzu's sword being the closest to her throat.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" The swordsman was clearly seething with more rage than me.

"Wairuzu, please! I can-"

"You can what?! Leave us for dead again?!"

"Woah, dude!" The blue player Wairuzu had called Jayce stepped in between them with his own sword in hand. "Whatever beef you two have, it can wait!"

Looking around, I realized we were still surrounded by a large group of heavily armed pirates as well as their supposed king. The latter let out a hearty laugh from his belly.

"Looks like ye have infightin' of yer own!" He raised his battle-axe and smiled from ear to ear. "Makes it easier fer us then!"

All at once, a message appeared in front of our faces. **'Objectives updated: Defeat The Pirate King'**. Even Jayce and his party got the same notification. Bluto's army charged forward at full force. Before I knew it, a mace was flying towards my face. To my surprise, it was deflected by another battle-axe laced with black crystals.

Before me stood a tall and muscular man who was obviously from the Ravager class. His hair was black and spiky, you could also say the same about his eyebrows. The armor he was wearing barely covered his top with it being a black sleeveless vest with spiked shoulders. His pants sported the same type of design.

"You alright, little girl?" His deep voice resonated within me… not in a good way though.

"Hey, who are you calling little?!" All of a sudden, the Ravager pushed me aside as a blast shot past us. Bluto raised the flintlock he held in his other hand up as smoke emanated from the muzzle.

"Kage, stay with the healer! Keep her safe!" Jayce shouted at him, getting a grunt and a nod in return.

"Excuse me?! Sorry, but I think I can-" Another shot grazed me and landed on Kage. He fell down with only a small dent in his health bar. Gritting my teeth I returned fire with multiple fireballs. The blasts hit the Pirate King which then revealed his health bar. It was substantially high for a human enemy. In fact, his level displayed the number 60.

"Yarr! You'll pay for that ye scoundrels!"

"Isn't that a little too high?!" This area was meant for level 20 players after all. Jayce followed up with a jumping slice, however, Bluto managed to parry it with his axe. The two exchanged blows before the blue swordsman called out to the the orange one.

* * *

"Wairuzu! Arryn! Back me up here!"

Who died and made you leader? Didn't matter, I wasn't planning on letting any of them take the last hit anyway.

"Soran, Daize, stay with Mac and Selena!" I said as I rushed off towards Bluto.

"Hey hold on-" Unfortunately, Daize failed to finish his complain.

Two pirates stood in between me and the boss, armed with their scimitars. Before I could swing my sword, however, a green blur took them down and reduced them to a blue haze. Stopping, I glared at the person in front of me.

"Listen, Wairuzu. I'm sorry, okay?!" Arryn made an annoyingly angry face. Who gave her the right to be angry anyway?!

"Get out of my way." Walking past her, I broke into a sprint. I held my tachi with both hands to my side as I swung it upward and slashed Bluto on the back. The damage was evident but it wasn't much.

"Yarr! You'll pay for that ye scoundrels!"

"Damn it, I thought this was a low level quest!"

Jayce smirked. "You really expected this to be easy?"

If I had to take a guess, I'd say the boss scales with the amount of players undertaking the joint quest. The more people you have, the stronger the boss got in order to balance out the strength levels. We really had no choice but to work together.

Bluto let out another laugh before spinning his battle-axe around like a top. Jayce and I back-stepped, avoiding the flurry of attacks he tried to deal. Managing to catch one attack and party it to the side, Jayce used the opening to stab him in the chest with a sword skill. The King angrily retaliated with his flintlock, hitting the blue Ronin in the chest. A beam of green light connected to him as he got back up.

"Thanks!" Jayce told Megumi who had managed to heal him while under the protection of the dark Ravager. We retreated backwards and regained our composure while the green Duelist kept the other pirates off our backs.

"We're going to need some debuffs." Turning around I spotted the archer who was firing arrows behind our knight. Both of them covered one side while Mac the NPC covered the other. In the middle, Selena kept her hands close to her chest, trying to avoid getting hit.

* * *

"Daize!" I heard my glorious name get called out. Glancing to my right, Wairuzu and his blue partner stood in between us and the mad king while the green duelist was keeping the pirates around them at bay "Debuffs now!"

Smiling, I knew exactly what he meant. Another one of my amazing skills was a defense debuff. Stacking up to four times, I could temporarily lower an enemy's defense. Consider it as an upgrade from my poison arrows. Drawing one of my projectiles of death from my quiver, I activated the skill and aimed it at Bluto. Swiftly, I let loose and voila! The boss stumbled back, his body had a visible dark glow indicating the debuff had worked. Now I just needed to hit him three more times to get the full effect.

"Yarr! You'll pay for that ye scoundrels!"

* * *

"Soran!" Daize turned around. "You think you two can take it from here?"

Mac and I faced him and nodded in unison. Raising my shield, I prepared for the next wave of pirates. The sheer number of them made me shiver a little but I didn't let that scare me. After all, I have someone I need to protect!

"Be careful you two!" Selena's sweet voice wavered in fear. Mine did not.

"Fear not!" Bashing my shield against the skulls of two enemies, I spun around and sliced them in the bellies. Mac swung his sword behind me and caught a blade by its hilt. In one fast move, he disarmed an enemy and stabbed him in the chest. However, that left him open to an attack by a pirate with a mace. Swiftly, I caught the swing with my shield. As it bounced off, I managed to drive my sword into his head.

"Not bad, Knight!"

Hearing the compliment, I blushed and gave him a smile. This was actually really fun.

* * *

My legs took me into the trees as I aimed my bow. Unfortunately, the old dude had his pirate gun as a ranged weapon. Blasts of hot lead barely grazed past me as I jumped from tree to tree.

"Can you guys at least TRY to keep him still?!" I yelled out to the two swordsmen who surrounded the boss on both sides. Time was running out for the first stack of the debuff. If I didn't continue my rain of arrows, the effect would wear off.

"Hey, man! He's really good at multitasking!" Wairuzu swung his tachi only for it to be parried by Bluto's axe. Jayce immediately followed up but his blade was met with the Pirate's flintlock which was surprisingly durable. It almost seemed like the boss was analyzing our fighting patterns and developing a legit strategy to counter them.

Immediately after canceling both of their attacks, Bluto fired his gun at me. Instinctively, I dropped out of the tree and landed on the cold hard ground which took out a bit of my health. Groaning, a green aura surrounded me.

"You okay there?" Megumi asked as she refilled my health. Behind her, the Ravager was still fending off a dozen pirates. He actually looked kinda cool doing so. Not as cool as me though.

"Yeah, thanks for the assist!"

"I really wish I could do more though." Unfortunately, I did not hear the sorcerer's complaint as I had already ran off back into battle. By now, his defense was back up to full meaning I had to shoot another four arrows into his annoying hide.

* * *

"Okay, how about this? You go for the gun and I'll go for the axe. Hold them in place for your archer to fire his arrows?" Shut up Jayce, I was going to suggest that. It wasn't a bad idea though…

"I call the axe!" Springing into action, I swung downwards and stuck my blade in between his. Planting it into the ground, Bluto struggled to lift his weapon. Instead, he raised his gun and pointed it at me.

"Yarr! You'll pay for that ye-"

"Shut up Gramps!" Jayce immediately parried it to the side and held onto it with his bare hands, dropping his sword. Unfortunately, we felt our grip on him loosening as he struggled to break free.

"Daize! Now!" I screamed as the archer let loose arrow after arrow, taking down Bluto's defense once more.

"Yarr!" The Pirate King shouted as he knocked me and the other Ronin off of him. We tumbled back, taking damage.

"Damn it! I need to land one more arrow!" Daize drew his bow as Bluto drew his gun. Before the pirate could fire, however, Arryn came flying down with her swords and dug both into his back. The damage she dealt was far more significant than ours thanks to her level. With the Pirate King cringing in pain, Daize fired his final arrow which hit Bluto right between the eyes.

"Take this!" Activating my sword skill, I slashed at the boss multiple times and dealt a decent amount of damage thanks to Daize's skill.

"Alright, let's hit em with a combo!" Jayce and Arryn took their turn and attacked in unison. The flurry of their blades was like a light show. Every hit they dealt was coordinated and precise. They were totally in sync. Who the hell were these guys? I noticed that Bluto's health was going down fast and I mean FAST. Panicking, I charged up my shot for the last hit. Landing back, Jayce noticed my special skill activate.

"Wairuzu, wait!"

"Crescent Slice!" For a second, I felt the orange Aura I had felt before return with more power than before. An orange beam shot out of my tachi and hit the Pirate King hard. The shock-wave knocked both Jayce and Arryn back, interrupting their combo.

 _'Did that do it? Did I get the last hit?'_

As the smoke cleared, a blast hit me in the chest. My body rolled back into the dirt, wrapping the scarf I wore around my face.

"Damn it…"

Another round of laughter emerged from the smoke as Bluto fired another round into me. It was enough to get me to zero. As my vision faded into a blue flash, I saw a bolt of fire hit the boss and disintegrate him into blue shards. Megumi ran up to me, trying to heal me as I faded into Oblivion.

* * *

Opening my eyes, I found myself back in Helonia, next to the teleport Crystal to be precise. Leaning against the wall, I clenched my fist in anger. Did I just die?! To my surprise, a notification screen popped up in front of me. It read **'Quest Completed!'** and listed the rewards I had received, including the ever so elusive EXP.

"They must've done it then…"

* * *

I stood over the spot where he disappeared, hand raised in an attempt to heal him. He must have ended up back in town then. A notification screen popped up displaying the Quest Completed text as well as my rewards. Surprisingly, I had a substantial amount of money and EXP. I guess that was from getting the last hit on the boss.

"Great shot! Megumi right?" Behind me, Jayce approached. I backed off a little when my eyes met the eyes of the woman behind him. The blue Ronin sighed, he clearly knew something was wrong.

"Alright, what did you do this time?"

"Um, guys?" Soran spoke up before Jayce got his answer. "Maybe we should discuss this after we take Lady Selena home?"

"What?" The girl in question backed away from the knight. "I'm not going home! The only place I want to be is by Mac's side!"

The true Pirate King shook his head and smiled. Taking his beloved in an embrace, he spoke softly.

"My love, your mother is just worried about you. Look how far she went for your sake. If it wasn't for these travelers, we wouldn't have survived Bluto's wrath." He backed off and held her shoulders. I swear I felt my heart flutter at the sight of them. "I shall return to Helonia with you in hand and properly ask for your mother's blessing. I doubt she'll be happy about it but it's worth a try."

"Mac..."

He then faced us. "As of now, the Catseye Pirates are disbanded! No longer will we be at war with Helonia. Thank you, friends!"

At that moment, all of us smiled and watched as the sun set. It was a beautiful sight, to be honest. For a moment I forgot about the anger I had towards Arryn. I truly questioned myself whether or not her story was worth my forgiveness. Well, I just wanted to enjoy this moment for now.

* * *

After the dust had settled, we escorted Mac and Selena back to Helonia. Imagine the shock Mayor Madeline had on her face when she saw them hand in hand. Mac explained everything and we helped too of course. In the end they somehow managed to get her blessing. With the Catseye Pirates disbanded, the town guards returned, forcing the remaining pirates to retreat back into the forest. Overall, this was one interesting adventure. Although, I was worried a bit about Wairuzu when he died but after we met up in the inn, he seemed fine.

As we sat around a large circular table in the Golden Coast, Arryn held her head down. It annoyed me that she was acting like a victim.

"It started when I discovered an exploit to level up fast. It was efficient but came at the cost of the new players' EXP potions."

"Hold up." Daize slammed the mug of what I would assume was digital beer onto the table. "You mean the Launch Day item?"

Wairuzu nodded. "Yeah. Parties in this game rely on the leader so if a party member dies in a permadeath type dungeon like the one we were in, any items they had goes to the leader. Collect enough potions and…"

"You could level up to 60 in no time." I couldn't believe she did that to other people as well. She's pure evil. "How many people did you trick?"

"Too many to count…" The way she made her face look sad ticked me off even more. Stop lying! Stop pretending you feel sorry!

"Well, if one potion was equivalent to five levels and assuming you were level fifteen, that would make it nine people." Our oh so clever archer pushed up his glasses in an act of confidence which was met with a karate chop on the head, courtesy of our orange swordsman.

"Sorry, this is my fault." Jayce said, standing up. "The three of us had a challenge to see who could level up the fastest. Since this game had so many flaws, we tried to exploit it. I probably should've been mindful about other players."

He gave us a great bow before sternly apologizing. Arryn placed her hand on his arm.

"You don't need to apologize for me." She then faced my way which made me look away. "Megumi, I'm sorry. You know, I actually enjoyed talking with you. I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me."

I felt uneasy. I did want to forgive her but at the same time, some of Wairuzu's cynicism was rubbing off on me. I wasn't sure what to do.

"All that stuff about being part of a group of grinders was a lie? You and your friends are just exploiters?" Wairuzu was clearly as aggravated as me.

"Well, yeah. We managed to reach level 20 at the start thanks to a glitch that duplicates the bunnyhops. In a game as messy as this, we had to find a way to have fun." Jayce replied, sitting back down. He immediately swiped down and showed us his level. Level 56. It wasn't as high as Arryn's but it was still a big number. Kage followed suit and showed us that he was level 47. Clearly, he lost this challenge.

"And no one's tried to stop you guys?"

"Hey, have you seen any admins around? I'm starting to think this game doesn't even have any which makes it vulnerable to even worse threats like hackers and aggressive players. This whole launch is a mess. The only reason people bought this thing is because they phased out the AmuSphere."

"Hey! Take that back!" The orange Ronin stood up. It seemed to me he was very passionate about this device.

"Oh? Right, I forgot you're related to the dude who made this gizmo."

"Wasn't that the guy who exploded?" Kage said with a stern look.

"More of missing real-"

"Okay!" Wairuzu sat back down, fuming. "Can we stop talking about him already!"

"What's with the temper, dude?" Jayce had a weird smile on his face. "You really need to learn to control yourself."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Wairuzu made me feel a bit uneasy. I mean, he wasn't wrong.

"For starters, you wouldn't have died if you didn't interrupt our combo. I'm guessing you wanted the last hit?"

The swordsman clicked his tongue in frustration. Clearly Jayce's deduction was spot on.

"Um... Since we're trying to make up, why don't we just change the topic?" Soran suggested while faintly smiling.

"We're not making up." Wairuzu crossed his arms.

"We're never making up." I followed up.

Daize let out a chuckle. "Well, my friends may be a tad bit closed minded. However, that won't stop me from telling our tales!"

Before he could speak, however, Wairuzu hit him one more time on the head. This time, I actually laughed along with the others.

"Will you stop hitting me?!"

"Will you stop being an idiot?"

The people around the table chuckled even more. Hell, even Kage had a weird laugh with his deep voice. Afterwards, Jayce bought another round of drinks. They had no benefit other than buffs of course but they still tasted nice. We learned more about them as well like the fact that the three of them knew each other in real life. To my surprise, Wairuzu and his friends knew each other in real life too. Guess I was the odd one out. I was fine with that but the next topic that was up for discussion was something that i didn't expect...

"This isn't a dating sim though! There's no affection system." Jayce's face was red. I didn't know you could actually get drunk in this game. Maybe it was just some sort of status effect.

"Yeah, yeah, but the gift system works with NPC's as well." Wairuzu wasn't as red but he clearly was passionate about the topic. "Why would that exist for no reason? Have you tried giving Selena anything, Soran?"

"Uh..."

"So you're saying there's a chance for good ol Soran here?" Daize wrapped his left arm around the nervous knight.

"Guys… can we talk about something else?" Unfortunately, his voice was too soft for anyone to hear.

"Having an NPC girlfriend would be boring though. Just imagine the conversations." Kage took a sip from his mug. We pondered how stale the dialogue of the NPC's were. However, Mac and Selena felt more real than anyone else.

The blue Ronin took a big gulp. "I'm telling you, that's not even possible!"

While the guys were busy arguing about whether or not NPC's could be romanced, I felt my arm being tugged slightly.

"Can we talk for a sec, Megumi?" Arryn asked me.

"I'm not sure if I want to…"

"Please?" She pouted her lips like a puppy. It's not like I had a choice, she was already dragging me outside.

* * *

The night air was a lot cooler than the one in real life. The moon that shone down on Helonia was brighter as well. Everything in this digital world was obviously made to be better than the real one. I just wish I could say the same about the people.

"Megumi?" Arryn called out to me as she sat down on the edge of the fountain in the middle of the square. It was still a bit crowded but not too much since it was getting late. She tapped the place beside her, gesturing for me to sit down. I didn't move an inch.

"What did you bring me here for, Arryn?"

"I…" She exhaled. "I was hoping we could talk some more."

I cringed in hesitation. "Why would I do that exactly?"

"Megumi… I know what I did was wrong and I'm terribly sorry! I knew it from the start but the one who truly made me regret my decision the most was you."

"Me?"

"You're so nice, not to mention cute."

That comment made me turn red for a second. _'Why did the first person to say that have to be her?!'_

"Besides, I want to fulfill my end of the bargain as well."

"End of what bargain?"

"Don't you remember? In exchange for joining my party, I had to be your best friend. I'm not much but if you're willing to accept me, I'm willing to try!" She gave me a smile that looked both genuine yet sad. I didn't know why she was trying this hard to make up for her mistakes. Maybe she was telling the truth? Maybe she was just setting up for another trick?

"Arryn, you need to understand that I'm not really in a position to forgive you right now."

"I do." She cleared her throat. "Which is why I'm going to put my trust in you."

I wondered what she meant by that.

"My real name is Ari Rintaro."

"Whoah!" I instinctively covered her mouth with my right hand. "Wait, how do I know you're not lying?"

I felt the laugh she let out vibrate through my hand. Letting go, I wiped the virtual saliva from my palm. "It's in my username. See?"

With one swipe, she showed me her character page. It displayed all her skills, equipment, and her username on top.

"Arryn..."

"Yes, Ari Rintaro. Arin, get it?" The Duelist smiled back at me once more.

I guess she wasn't lying. Even then... "Wait, why are you telling me that?! What happened to that rule?!"

"You don't have to tell me your real name. Just promise you will once you trust me, okay? I'll work as hard as I can to earn it!"

Was it okay to hope again? Hope has always been shady for me all my life, after all. My eyes shook as a smile formed on my face.

"Sure."

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by** **Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: The Fish Master**


	8. Episode 8: The Fish Master

**Episode 8: The Fish Master**

Forests usually follow a pattern throughout the year. During spring, their green colors shine through and last until summer. During fall, they turn into mellow hues of red and orange. Finally, the white snow strips them clean to repeat the cycle once more. This forest, however, seemed to be stuck in the fall phase indefinitely. The ground rustled with fallen leaves yet the same leaves stuck to the branches like glue. The bark of the trees themselves had a reddish hue. Overall, Crescent Hill gave me a sense of death. But don't mind my twisted thoughts, how are you? How's your day? If you asked me the same question, I'd answer in one word: weird.

If you didn't know who I was then you must have been living underneath a rock. I am the oh so powerful archer who goes by the name Daize! And today, my dear friends, I shall tell you the tale of one of the strangest quests our party ever took. It all started when Wairuzu suggested taking a player made quest from the notice board in Crescent Hill. We had been there for a while now, completing main quests and grinding the hell out of the local pixies who were less than happy to be brutally murdered.

"How bad can it be?" The swordsman said while browsing through all the quests the players of AKO had made. The system itself was weird to be honest. Just anyone could post a quest if they had the right amount of cash on hand. Unfortunately, most of the tasks listed were, to say the least, interesting. If you sifted through all the quests that were obviously jokes, you would find some involving item gathering, dungeon running, and the occasional lonely male looking for a female partner. Jayce was right, this game needed moderating.

Moving through the menu, Wairuzu finally stopped on one quest. "Wait, isn't this…"

"Mnbbvb?" Soran leaned over and read the name of the player who submitted the quest. The name itself was quite the mouthful.

"Someone you know?" Megumi, our ever so hardworking sorcerer, asked.

"He's actually another friend from real life. Of course he would get an AuraSphere." I answered her question. You see, Wairuzu, Soran, and I attended the same high school where we have a group of friends. Mnbbvb was one of them. He is an avid video game collector who even has an original AmuSphere so he's considered a VR veteran among our ranks.

"We should say hi then." Wairuzu clicked on the quest button and made the familiar accept screen pop up in our faces. The quest was titled: **'The Fish Master'** with its only objective being **'Help me defeat Dagon, the biggest fish in Azuria!'**.

"Defeat Dagon, huh?" I pressed accept as the others followed suit. This quest seemed pretty straight forward. The marker itself was just across the forest too. "Alright, let's get moving!"

* * *

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

The red and yellow leaves crunched under our feet as we made our way through the forest. I was in the front of course, with my mini-map open, leading the troupe. Behind me, Megumi was asking us some questions.

"If you don't mind me asking, how close are you guys in real life?"

"How close?" Wairuzu tilted his head back and stared up at the sky.

"Intimately!" I probably shouldn't have said that. If I didn't, I wouldn't have gotten a smack on the head. "Ouch!"

The swordsman reeled back his hand as the other two laughed. Oh woe is me.

"Does that answer your question, Megumi?" Soran used one of his cutest smiles yet.

"Yeah…"

"Don't you have friends in real life too? You should invite them to play with you." Wairuzu suggested.

The sorcerer hesitated before stuttering out her answer. "I… my friends aren't into gaming at all. Maybe one of them but we don't really talk that much anymore."

"Well, that's unfortunate." I replied.

It didn't take long before we arrived at our quest marker. The area was breathtaking. A large lake was located down the hill we were on, surrounded by stone statues and shrines. In the middle, a great temple stood which had a depiction of a large fish that looked like a cross between a catfish and a whale. The entrance to the temple glowed purple which meant that that was a dungeon. At the edge of the lake, a figure in a dark hooded cloak was laying back on the grass with a fishing rod sticking out of his garb. The rod looked like it was plated with black steel while the silver line shot out and led to a yellow floater drifting gently across the water.

"Is that him?" Megumi asked us.

"Yep" The three of us said in unison. Mnbbvb was notorious for heading straight into an MMO just to test out the fishing system. If the game didn't have one, it wasn't worth his time.

"Yo, M!" I called out the name we used for him since Mnbbvb was really too much to say. "We got your quest!"

The fisherman let down his hood to reveal his sharp blonde hair. It was a lot darker than mine so it didn't look as good. Unfortunately, he had the same glasses as me since there is only one default glasses option in the character creation area.

"I see you've arrived, my apprentices."

"What's with him?" The sorcerer asked.

"He's more into roleplay than Soran." Wairuzu answered.

"Hey…" The Knight pouted.

"So what's this about Dagon?" The swordsman cut right to the chase, obviously hungry for EXP.

"Easy! Dagon is the biggest fish in Azuria. As you can see, the shrine built here embodies its likeness in order to appease it. I have been studying-"

"Fishing."

"-studying and fishing in this area for a while now and I have come to the conclusion that Dagon resides in these very waters!"

"And how the hell did you learn all that?"

"Right here. It's all written on this thing." I pointed out a statue next to the edge of the lake with a plaque on it saying that the lake belonged to Dagon and all that jazz.

"Really? Going to steal this from me?" The fisherman sighed, breaking character. "I'm guessing you guys still have the same usernames?"

"Yep."

"Who's the chick?" He pointed at Megumi who flinched in return. "She an NPC or something?"

"No, I'm Megumi. Nice to meet-"

"Wait, are you actually a player?"

"Uh… yeah?"

"I see…" His narrow eyes gave him a serious look as he asked his next question. "And are you actually a girl in real life too?

"Of course. Wait, why do you want to know if I'm a girl?" She was clearly creeped out judging by the disgusted look on her face.

M turned around and held his head down. "It's an integral question for the quest."

 _'Integral?! You really can't hide your perversion, can you?'_ If I'm being honest, the rest of us were as surprised as well, save for Wairuzu who still had the same bored look on his face.

"Right!" M cleared his throat. "We shall begin at once!"

"Okay." Wairuzu pulled out his tachi. "What do we need to-"

In a split second, item requests screens were shoved into our faces. The item in particular was a basic wooden fishing rod.

"What the hell is this?"

"Fishing rods! With them, we shall capture Dagon!"

"What?!" All of us were past the point of confusion.

"I thought we were going into that dungeon…" the Ronin pointed towards the temple portal across from us.

"Oh no, Dagon's a fishing quest but his spawn rate is extremely low. That's where you guys come in!"

"Okay, I'm abandoning this quest." Before Wairuzu tapped the abandon button, M yelled out a loud WAIT.

"If we succeed in this quest, our reward shall be one of the rarest items in the game!" His cloak shuffled around as his raised his arm like some some sort of magician.

"And what exactly does this item do?"

"Don't know yet. I'm aiming to be the first person to complete this quest. Of course, the bragging rights still go to you all too."

"Hey, first players to snag a rare item. Doesn't sound too bad, right Wairuzu?" I nudged him with my elbow while grinning. Wairuzu could never refuse an achievement like that.

"It's surprising how no one has attempted to find Dagon." Soran said. Little did he and the rest of us know, there was indeed a reason why no one has completed it.

* * *

My back hit the ground as my legs sprawled out. The tachi behind me made an uncomfortable bed although, at this point, I couldn't care less. We've been fishing for more than half a day now and that's counting real life hours. We all had to log out to eat or shower of course, except M who seemed like he didn't need to take care of his body. Once we were done, we went back to fishing, spending another grueling hour in this virtual world.

"Hey! I got a new one!" Daize reeled in a fish that was as big as his chest. It flopped for a bit before disappearing into his inventory which was full of all the other fish his lucky ass managed to catch. I never really knew how he manages to be really good at games without even trying. All of a sudden, the rod he had been using glowed a bright white before transforming into the same reinforced black one M had.

"Woah, you actually maxed out your rod!" Soran held his own rod which upgraded from the bronze to the silver one.

If you're as confused as I was when we started, let me explain. The fishing rods work as a single key item. In order to upgrade them, you simply needed to fish. The rod takes in fish like EXP. The rarer and bigger the fish caught, the better the rod became. We apparently needed a max level rod in order to catch Dagon. On the bright side, we didn't need to gather any materials and bring them to the blacksmith. On the dark however… I still had a low level rod. I was never good at this type of stuff. Lead me to some monster and I'll slay it in no time but lead me to some lake where we had to sit and catch fish for hours, that's where I drew the line.

"Nothing yet?" Megumi plopped down beside me holding her gold rod. I tried not to look jealous though.

"I can't seem to land them once they bite."

"You're probably using too much force."

Giving her a glare, she instinctively jumped a bit.

"I- I mean... if you use too much force when reeling the fish in, the tension will snap the line. It's all about finding a balance between pulling and letting the fish pull back."

Maybe I should take her advice. Casting out my line once more, I waited for something to bite. However, it seemed as though that would take a while. It wasn't long before the silence, save for Daize and Soran freaking out over their catches, to become unbearable.

"I'm kinda jealous." The sorcerer tried to start a conversation.

"Of what?"

"You guys. You all know each other really well. Plus you're close to whole group of people."

"I wouldn't say that exactly. Daize and Soran sure but… I'm not really that close to M and the rest." As I said, the only ones I trusted were Daize and Soran, even if my circle of friends extended beyond them. I didn't say that out loud though. Daize would never let it go if he knew that.

"I see…" Her purple eyes drifted towards the lake. I don't know why I even said that. I didn't have time to think about it though.

"You got one!" Megumi stood up and pointed towards my line. Indeed, something had bitten and was now struggling to break free. "Remember, don't use too much force or the line will break!"

"I know!" I pulled and reeled in the catch as fast as I could. As soon as I felt tension between me and the fish, I instinctively pulled harder.

 _'Wait! Not too much force!'_

Slowing down my pace, I let the fish drag the line across the water. As soon as I felt its grip loosen, I got back to reeling. After a few bouts of going back and forth, I had finally reeled it in. Finally!

"Huh?" The fish I held in my hand was no bigger than my hand. In fact, it only got me a quarter of the way to the next rod rank.

"Oof. Better luck next time." M walked over and chuckled at the small catch that gave me so much trouble. At that point, I felt like punching him in his face.

Megumi spoke up. "Hey, M? I've been wondering..."

"About what, my dear?"

"Um, why is your name like that."

"He smashed his face on his keyboard one day and got those letters." I answered right away. It's the same story he would've told her but I decided to shorten it to the basics.

"That about sums it up, yes." He gave her a big grin.

"Seriously?"

"He tells that exact same story every time someone asks about it."

"Okay…"

M let out a loud laugh. I always wondered who would win in an eccentricity contest, him or Daize. My money was on Daize though.

"I've been chatting with the others by the way. They said they're planning on logging in as soon as they get AuraSpheres of their own." M clearly meant people from our group. For some of us, the AuraSphere was our first real venture into VR. Obviously, we couldn't buy NerveGear and the AmuSphere was overpriced as hell. The AuraSphere wasn't exactly cheap so I'm lucky I even managed to get a free unit. I don't even know how the rest of them managed to get their hands on it.

"Who's coming?" I asked, curious to hear who was planning on getting into VR.

He leaned over and glared at Megumi. "Maybe I'll just message you. Can't really use their real names here."

Thank God he still had his decency hidden somewhere inside him.

"Oh, sorry Megumi. I didn't mean to offend you or anything." M apologized.

"It's fine. I get it." She smiled faintly.

"So how long are we supposed to keep fishing?!" Daize shouted from a few feet away.

"Until one of us reels Dagon in! Just keep going!" M took out his master rod once more. "Well, time to get back to work!"

We definitely had a long day ahead of us.

* * *

"Another one?" I sighed as the fifth gold fish disappeared into my inventory. It wasn't a bad catch but it wasn't Dagon either.

"It's still a pretty fish. All I'm catching are basic catfish." Soran still had a silver plated rod which was one level below the max. "You're pretty good at this, Daize."

 _'Of course I am!'_ I glanced over to Megumi and saw that she had finally maxed hers as well. Wairuzu, on the other hand, was still annoyed by the fact that he can't get past the third level.

"Why do MMO's even have fishing systems? They're stupid." He said in frustration.

"HEY!" M cleared his throat. "I'll have you know that fishing systems are the best way to farm EXP! Compared to grinding monsters-"

"Huh? What's..." Before the fisherman could say anything else, the Ronin was violently pulled towards the water. A giant tail splashed out of the lake as the rest of us gasped.

"It's Dagon!" M shouted while pointing at the epicenter of a couple of huge waves.

"I thought he could only be found with a max rod?!" Megumi asked with a panicked voice.

"I said he can only be caught with a max rod. Wairuzu's is sure to break!"

"Not on my watch!" The swordsman planted his feet onto the ground and began to pull. The tension on the line was reaching its limits quickly. Before it could break, however, a familiar orange Aura surrounded him.

"Again?" My jaw fell to the floor as well as the rest of the team as our Ronin was surrounded by an orange Aura.

* * *

"What?" The orange flame-like glow that surrounded me swept into my rod which then glowed the same color like it was infused somehow. I felt the line become stronger as I pulled. "Come on!"

I exerted as much effort as I could, dragging myself and the fishing rod up the hill. Whatever skill I had activated was keeping the rod from breaking. That didn't mean Dagon was an easy catch though. It swept over to the left and caught me off balance. Falling onto the ground, I was dragged a couple of feet along the edge of the water's shore.

"Quick grab him!" Thankfully, Soran and Daize managed to get a grip on both of my legs.

"Put your back into it, great knight!" They both heaved as much as possible, bringing me closer and closer to land. As they made more progress, I managed to get myself upright once more. Megumi and M pitched in, holding my arms tightily.

"Reel it in for God's sake!" The fisherman yelled.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!" With all my might, I started reeling in the behemoth. With the buff I got from my skill, it slowly made its way towards us, flapping its big tail everywhere and sending water flying across the lake. With one last tug, we managed to get the damn thing out of the water. Taking a look at it, it was similar to the whale like catfish depicted on the temple wall. Its black scales glistened as the sunlight hit it. The eyes themselves glowed as red as mine.

"Alright!" M grinned. "The true challenge starts now!"

 _'True challenge?'_ I glanced back at the beached Dagon. It started puffing steam out of his gills while its whiskers glowed a bright red. After letting out a mighty roar, a health bar appeared above him.

"So the final phase is a boss fight!" I said, feeling fired up. Dagon was about five levels above our average so this should be easy enough. I was the first to strike. The orange Aura around me enhanced my damage with each hit. A chunk of his health melted away as I grinned at my achievement. However, I felt my strength already draining. This power up skill was very tiring to use for some reason.

Dagon opened his mouth and shot out a beam of fire. Moving as quickly as my legs could take me, I ran out of the way. Unfortunately, the fire caught up to me as I leapt back, inflicting a burning status effect which lowered my health gradually. Gripping my sword, I charged in again and dealt more blows. The damage I inflicted made me feel heavy. Rising up, the giant fish attempted to land on top of me and crush me. In a flash, Soran held his shield high and reflected the attack. We took a bit of shock damage which Megumi started healing.

"My turn!" From our left, M charged at the beast. His cloak flew back as he took out his weapon: a giant black and yellow scythe. Apparently, he was a Reaper class.

He swung his curved blade down onto Dagon's head then spun around, slashing across. Sweeping his leg to the side, the shadows underneath him gathered around and struck the fish. It roared in pain as the darkness consumed it.

"That's actually pretty badass…" Soran said in amazement as Daize leapt up and fired his debuff arrows.

"We'll need to keep up then!"

He was right. Can't let M take the spotlight! I dug my feet into the ground and ran straight for Dagon.

"Wairuzu! I'm not finished healing you yet!" Our sorcerer shouted out of concern.

"I'll be fine!" My health was above half so I wasn't worried. Megumi's healing spells didn't seem to remedy my exhaustion but as long as I had this orange Aura around me, I can kill this thing! As M backed off, I shifted and took his place. My tachi ran up across his mouth and left a large glowing scar. I landed a few more hits before being forced to back off.

"Damn it…" My legs were already wobbling. The sword in my hands got heavier for some reason. Fortunately, I managed to lower the boss's health to the halfway point. That's when things took a turn for the worse.

* * *

All of a sudden, Dagon bellowed out a large roar. From its body, sprouted spider like legs which lifted it from the ground. With its newfound appendages, it could now walk around on land and not be forced to sit in one position.

"It's a spider! It's a spider!" Soran shrieked, shocked by the sudden transformation.

I drew an arrow from my quiver and fired it at the great beast. However, it managed to leap to the side just at the right moment.

"It's fast!" I gritted my teeth as I drew more arrows. If I could predict its movements and adjust for the delay, then I can hit it. Dagon zigzagged across the hill, avoiding contact with the melee players. It was clear that he was now heading my way.

"Oh shi-" I leapt back onto a tree. That was when the fish revealed its razor sharp teeth. With one bite, it managed to eat a large chunk of wood, sending me to another tree. I focused a power shot onto its face and fired. Leaping back onto the ground, I drew my bow and fired more shots onto its snout. The others had regrouped and were running towards us.

"Daize, stay away from the boss!" The Ronin scolded me.

"Don't you think I'm trying?!"

Megumi managed to conjure up a circle of eight light balls and sent them flying. Each energy sphere hit Dagon precisely. The fish staggered then prepared to charge at her when Soran rammed his shield into it with his dash skill. The impact slammed it against another tree, cracking the trunk. Wairuzu and M used this opportunity to deal another chunk of damage to the health bar. However, it looked to me that Wairuzu was getting drained again. It had happened to him before when using that mysterious skill back when we fought the golem.

"Hey, Wairuzu! You need to back off before you pass out again!" And by 'pass out' I meant 'get logged out because you almost had a heart attack'.

"I'm fine!" I could never get through that stubborn head of his. I guess that's why I had to be equally stubborn as well. With a single bound, I leapt onto the boss's back and shoved two arrows down its eyes, blinding it indefinitely. It shook violently but I managed to hold on. Dagon scrambled around and attempted to rush back into the water but was met with a wall, an Iron Wall. Soran stood his ground as the clumsy fish smacked its face right into his shield.

"Daize, get back!" M waved his scythe and spun it around in a circle. I immediately jumped off the beast and landed at the edge of the water. "Purgatory Bats!"

A circular dark portal opened up in front of him, sending purple and black spiritual bats flying towards Dagon. The flurry of hits drained its health even more until it stumbled back. Taking advantage of the situation, I unloaded debuff arrows onto the creature until its health was low enough for one more power shot to kill it. Drawing my bow, I hesitated. Glancing behind me, I saw our swordsman heaving heavily and leaning on his sword.

"Wairuzu! Take it down!" I said as his eyes lit up. The Ronin smiled and ran towards the boss. With a valiant battle-cry, he charged up his signature move.

"Crescent slice!"

And that was it. We watched as Dagon disappeared in a blue flash before the Quest Completed sign popped up. A bigger grin formed on the Ronin's face as he faced us. We all cheered while the orange Aura around him disappeared into thin air. All that was left was to check the rewards. Sliding my finger down the rewards screen, I found that the EXP was actually enough to propel us up a level. Multiple level up sounds rang out at the same time.

"So? What did you get?!" M drew near Wairuzu, desperate to see what Dagon dropped. He probably could feel him breathing down his neck with that proximity.

"Hold on, let me put it on." With a click, a hat formed on top of his head. It wasn't a fantasy hat though, it looked more like one of the hats you could find in a souvenir shop when you visit foreign places. All it had on its front were the words: **'I BEAT DAGON AND ALL I GOT FOR IT WAS THIS HAT'** written in perfect English.

"Are you serious…?" All that time fishing had pissed him off to the brink of insanity. This hat was the final straw. He took the cap and raised it in anger, almost throwing it to the ground. Before he could, however, M grabbed his arm.

"Come on dude! It's a cool hat!"

"It's a stupid hat!" He struggled while we let out some laughs, mine being the loudest of course. "You know what? If you like this piece of crap so much, you can keep it!"

Quickly, Wairuzu navigated through the item list and sent M a trade request.

"You sure about this?" He asked with a smile.

"Send any junk you have, I don't really care."

"Don't mind if I do, then." M gladly accepted the request, giving the swordsman some fish scales and receiving the hat of shame.

"You know, you should be more grateful for your blessings." I said with crossed arms. The only reaction I got from Wairuzu was a glare that said 'One more word and I'll kill you'.

And that, my dear friends, concludes our tale. Sure the lengths we went to complete our quest were long and exhausting but the reward we managed to receive at the end was more than a hat. It was the gift of friendship!

...or at least a few laughs. The entire thing was too funny to forget. I still think back to that quest sometimes, wondering if I should have fired that last shot and taken that hat. Sure, I could've killed Dagon and claimed the holy relic for myself but hey, Wairuzu deserved a break for once. It's not everyday my generosity was this great.

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by** **Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: Demons of the Marsh**


	9. Episode 9: Demons of the Marsh

**Episode 9: Demons of the Marsh**

Candeo Marsh, an infamous area for PVP players to clash to their heart's extent. The area itself was dark and gloomy with the moon forever illuminating a soft blue glow. This glow was reflected all across the waterlogged fields while an assortment of spiders, alligators, and some weird carnivorous plants made their home here. This was a level 50 area so everything was much stronger than anything we had faced before. But I've come a long way from being a low level Ronin. Hell, the rest of us were doing fine too. It was about time that we tested our skills on real players so I decided to take us here. We rested in the town of Candetonn where Candeo Cafe sat. It was cleaner than any inn or bar we've been to before so it was a nice change of pace. However, the prices of the food and drinks were not so accommodating.

"I think we spent too much..." Soran sighed as he sat back in his seat. Each of us had ordered our own Grilled Fish Fillet. I would list down the ingredients if I didn't consume it all in a few bites.

"Who cares? I've never had food that tasted this good in real life!" Daize was definitely content with his purchase. "The buff this provides is awesome as well."

Being the most expensive item in the menu, this chunk of meat from the sea provides us with an extended attack and defense buff which will help us when we take on other players. All we needed to do was wait for the rest of our party to form. The remaining members were M and his friend whom he had mentioned before. Apparently, he had already started playing AKO a few days ago and managed to level up enough to join us for our PVP adventure.

"What's taking them?" I crossed my arms as I sank into my scarf.

"In hindsight, we probably should've saved these for later." Soran sadly looked at the empty plates in front of us. The buff these gave us ran on a timer of around an hour but unfortunately, the food was too delicious to be left alone.

"Argh!" A player near us suddenly slammed his fist against the wall. "That's the fourth time this week!"

Glancing at him, I noticed he had gauntlets with three large blades sticking out of them. He was obviously a Brawler.

"Dude, calm down. It's just a necklace, we can forge another one." His friend, a Duelist, put his hand on his shoulder.

"Where are we gonna get another emerald then?"

"What seems to be the problem, good sirs?" Daize and his stupid smile greeted the pair. "Surely you know that this area is a PVP area. You're bound to lose something if you're not careful."

"You don't understand!" The Brawler sighed and recollected his thoughts. "I lost a rare necklace 'cos of a cheater. The Demon took it."

"Cheater? What Demon?"

"You haven't heard about him?"

 _'No we haven't, just explain it.'_

"Out there in the wetlands, lives a Player Killer who attacks from the shadows with his knives."

"Ooh, throwing knives! Scary!" I said in a sarcastic tone.

"The scary part is that he seems to have an unlimited supply of them." The Duelist continued. He was right in that regard; throwing knives do a lot more damage than arrows so they limited the amount one player can carry at a time. "He also hides in the trees well enough that all he needs to do is hit you with a barrage of blades until your health whittles to zero."

"Infinite throwing knives? Is that some sort of rare item?" Soran asked.

"Maybe it's just some hacker like he said." Daize suggested.

"Man, the way that guy moves, it's inhuman." The Brawler said. "Anyways, I'm done for tonight."

We exchanged goodbyes before both of them logged out, leaving us thoroughly intrigued. Just who the hell was this player?

* * *

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

Before we could delve any deeper into our thoughts, however, two players came into the cafe. One of them was M with his usual smug face since he was wearing his stupid hat proudly and the other was a Wizard which was basically like a Sorcerer except the magic staff they used was more damage focused than support.

"Yo!" The Wizard raised his hand to greet us. This was Orhaxum who was the closest friend of M. His bright cyan robes made him look like a priest while his hair, which was of a similar but darker color, extended down his face, covering one of his blue eyes.

"Took you long enough." I quickly navigated to the party menu to invite them.

"M's the one who delayed us." Orhaxum said.

"Sorry, I was caught up with something in real life." The guilty party explained. He probably had to eat dinner or something.

"What matters is that we can finally leave now." As they accepted the request, I scanned through the player list. For the first time, we actually had a full party of five. "Right, Orha you're on healing duty."

"Of course…" Even if he was a battle type mage, he was still the only one with a healing skill.

"Speaking of healing, where's Megumi?" Daize asked.

"She said she wanted to party up with Arryn for a bit. I don't know why though." I answered.

"Jealous?" The Archer grinned like an idiot. This type of teasing would never have happened if she didn't reveal that she was an actual girl.

"Yeah, I'm jealous she gets to be away from your ego for a little while." Closing the menu, I made my way to the door. "Come on, I don't want this buff to go to waste."

"By the way, who's she?" The Wizard pointed at our Knight who then proceeded to turn red.

* * *

Our footsteps squished in the mud as we walked carefully across the Marsh. I had put everyone in a certain formation. Daize was obviously jumping from tree to tree, awaiting a surprise attack. Soran guarded the front while M and I took to the rear. Orhaxum was placed in the middle since the healer is almost always the first target when it comes to fights. We had to be more careful than usual since PVP areas were no jokes. Die and you lose money and EXP, not to mention the items or consumables you have equipped.

"Man, why did I agree to go with you guys?" M groaned. "There's literally nothing happening. I could be fishing right-"

"Wait!" Soran held his hand up. In front of us were multiple cubes emanating a faint blue light. He curiously touched one of them. "Are these…"

The knight jumped back as a loot menu popped up. Some gold, a belt of strength, and a couple of potions… this was clearly the dead body of a player.

"Gaia cubes. In the lore of Aura Kingdom, a manifestation of an envoy's soul." Orhaxum explained. He always enjoyed reading up on games' stories more than any of us.

"There's lore?" I asked. We never really paid attention to the story that much since it was just exposition after exposition. The trees ruffled as Daize jumped down to look at the cubes.

"Hey, this guy dropped a clothing item!" He instantly put on a new pair of dark brown glasses which were slightly bigger than his default. "Wairuzu, you can have my old ones if you want."

"Oh I don't think so!" I had a personal rule stating that my avatars should never EVER have glasses.

"Hey!" Orhaxum raised his staff and slammed it onto the ground, attempting to make a loud thud but only getting a soft squish. "We should be careful. These cubes are fresh, meaning the killer or killers can't be far."

As if to emphasize his point, a stray arrow found its mark at the center of our formation. It had a weird fuse attached to the tail.

"Hey Daize, you misse-" I was immediately blown back as the bolt exploded. The others were also thrown away, save for Soran who stood his ground with his shield. Out from the blue brush came five players, one of which was the archer who shot the arrow. One of them, a guy with a Holy Sword, took his place in the front. Obviously he was the head honcho. Looking closely, they all had a blue tint to their armors which made for an excellent camouflage for this area.

"Looks like we got ourselves our prey. Taito, take care of the healer!"

Taito, who was apparently a Gunslinger, raised one of his pistols and fired a large blast at Orhaxum who was on the ground. Unfortunately for them, the Wizard was a battle class. He fought back with a bolt of lightning. The two blasts collided and cancelled each other out. Getting back up, he cast a healing circle around us which slowly regenerated our health. It wasn't as fast as Megumi but that was a given. Everyone immediately sprang into action. Soran's shield met the blade of the leader's great sword while my Tachi clashed with another guy's lance. M quickly accessed his skill menu and created a portal that burst out a couple of shadow balls every few seconds. As my sword was parried, the Lancer backed off and shot his spear straight at my chest. I weaved side-wards before he went for another jab. Seeing an opening, I spun clockwise and slashed him diagonally. Stumbling back, a green aura surrounded him. A Bard class character was strumming his harp and healing the Lancer.

"This isn't good." I heard as I jumped back beside Orhaxum. "Bards are full on support characters. Their healing is unmatched."

The Holy Sword wielder smirked as he knocked Soran back from their clash. "That's right! You have no chance of beating us!"

"I wouldn't be so confident if I were you…" Closing my eyes, I analyzed the situation. Holy Douche-bag was playing the role of the tank while the Lancer was their main attacker. Gunslinger and Archer ranged and Bard healer. Grinning, I raised my sword with both hands.

"Orha, AoE attack!"

The Wizard understood and immediately raised his staff to bring down a rain of fire at the center of the enemy team. The Area of Effect was large, Wizards were known for that. The group scattered as I immediately went for the Holy Sword user. He blocked my attack with the flat of his blade.

"Daize, trees! Soran, go for the Gunslinger!"

Nodding, our archer leaped onto the tree tops. The knight also followed up and sprinted towards the gunman who fired a couple of rounds towards him, all of which ricocheted off of his shield.

"Um…" M stood there with his scythe raised, confused as to what to do since we kind of left him behind.

"Just back me up alright?" Orhaxum aimed two more lightning bolts at the Archer and the Lancer. As suspected, they were both extremely agile. The bolts met their mark at their feet as they barely dodged the attacks.

"I got just the thing!" M held up his scythe and fired a blast that emitted blue smoke. The projectile landed right in front of the Lancer and blew up in an icy flurry. The blast applied the ice effect onto him which limited his movement.

"Right, I forgot about that!" Orhaxum charged up his staff and sent a light blue blast into the group, affecting everyone in its radius. With that, the Archer and the Lancer were effectively slowed down.

"Nice try! But that won't stop us as long as we-"

"Can we stop talking, please?!" I slashed left and right as he parried each blow. Swinging downward, I used the momentum to throw myself over his head and slash down his back. He grunted as he took damage from my attack.

"Jean, I need hea-" To his dismay, the Bard in question was trying to fend off Daize who was jumping from tree to tree, firing arrows each time.

"Sorry, but I think your healer is busy!"

"Damn you!" Raising his sword, the fight begun once more.

* * *

I struggled as my shield was riddled with bullets. I know Wairuzu assigned me to take care of the Gunslinger because I had the best defense to do so but there was no way I could get near him at this rate. Looking behind my shield, I noticed that he was glancing at the Lancer and Archer who were hit by Orhaxum and M's blasts. He immediately closed his eyes and sent a shock-wave across to them. They immediately regained their speed.

"What the hell?!" M raised his scythe and blocked the Lancer's weapon, immediately returning fire with a barrage of fireballs but ultimately missing. I started to rush towards them to help but was shot in the back. Grunting, I stood back up and glared at my opponent.

"Eyes on me, girlie!"

"I am not a girl!" I activated my dash skill and made it to him in no time. My shield knocked the Gunslinger against the bark of a tree. Chaining to another skill, I sent a flurry of slashes flying across his body. I didn't stop until his health reached zero. As his body turned into another blue cube, I turned around and activated a new skill I had gained, Defense Posture. Raising my sword, a white glow shot out to the rest of my party. This white glow granted them a large increase in defense.

* * *

"Thanks for the assist, brave knight!" I shouted as I leapt out of the tree. The Bard that had been firing music blasts at me fired one more. This time I took the hit with the help of Soran's defense buff, it took out half of my health but that was all I needed. Spinning, I fired a power shot at the enemy who tried to shield himself with his arms. The arrow knocked him back as I landed. Sprinting around, I unloaded the rest of my quiver, taking his health down to a measly amount. Before I could fire the last shot, however, a giant sword swung down in front of me, forcing me to back off.

"Get away from our Bard!"

* * *

Swinging my sword, I tried to hit the Lancer but he was too fast. I exchanged my sword with my shield as I blocked the arrows coming from the Archer. Another circle of green light formed around us as Orhaxum casted his healing spell.

"I'll slow them down again!" M charged up another ice blast.

The Archer fired a purple arrow towards him. I stood in between them to block it but as soon as it hit me, it went through me and hit M with a large blast of dark energy, closing his dark portal as well. As he stumbled back, it was clear that Orhaxum's healing circle wasn't enough. The Lancer spun his spear around and gave themselves a red glow indicating an increase in attack. He then rushed towards me and let out a flurry of stabs which started to take my health down fast, even if I had my shield out. As I was brought to my knees, another bomb arrow knocked me back and cleared the way for them to attack my friends. I struggled to get up as they ran past me...

* * *

As I rushed towards the battle, Daize was evading the large sword that was swinging at him. Luckily, the sword's attack was slow because of its size. I took this chance and aimed for the Bard who was consuming some health potions. With my Tachi in hand, I leapt up and spun around. The Bard immediately strafed to the left as my sword met the ground. After managing to pull it out, I was met with the blade of the Holy Sword. I could feel its weight as he pushed it down on me.

"Die!" The leader shouted. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't a good listener. Grinning, I pulled out my Trump card. Overtime, I had learned how to activate this skill at will. I never managed to learn how to keep it from draining me so I only used it in certain emergency situations. This was indeed one of them.

"What the hell?!" He started loosening his force on me as my body glowed a bright orange.

"Enhance!" I swiped his sword away with one motion. I then proceeded to hit him with a barrage of slashes, draining his health down to zero. As he knelt down in defeat, he uttered his last words.

"What are you…?"

I watched as his loot dropped onto the ground. Turning towards the Bard, he scampered back in fear while staring at my red eyes.

"Stop! I give up! Just let me keep my Healing Gem! Please, it was a gift from a friend!"

Raising my sword, I did not feel any pity. In fact, all I wanted to do was kill the bastard. And so I did, with a single slice. He too disappeared into a blue flash. As I stood there with my body up in flames, Daize approached me slowly.

"Dude... don't you think that was a little bit too much?"

Ignoring him, I sprinted towards the remaining two enemies. With ease, I cut them down. The Lancer attempted to swing at me once more but I caught his weapon and shredded it with a few hits, the durability must not have been much. As for the archer, I fired an energy wave that knocked him down, allowing me to stab him in the chest. Moving back to the Lancer, I held him down and pierced his abdomen as he spoke up.

"You… demon!"

The rest of my party gathered around me as I deactivated Enhance. I had to stop since my head already felt dizzy from that short fight.

"What the hell was that?" Orhaxum asked.

"Nothing, just some skill I picked up a while back." I noticed that we were missing one person. "Where's M?"

Behind them stood Soran who had a distressed look on his face. His armor was dented and his shield was thoroughly scratched.

"I… I couldn't save him. I'm sorry." He clenched his fist in anger while his face showed shame.

"Hey, hey!" Daize immediately walked up to him. "He'll just respawn. We can grab his stuff and give it back to him when we get back to Candetonn."

"I know but… if I can't protect you guys then what's my worth as a tank?"

"What do you want us to do then? Wallow in sorrow?" I sighed as I grabbed his shoulder. "You did what you could. Stop complaining, it's annoying."

Soran was always sensitive about his self-esteem. Even the smallest thing would bring him to tears. It really ticked me off whenever he put himself down like that.

"Let's just grab this loot and… Orha?" I glanced over to our Wizard who was standing suspiciously still. As he fell to the ground, we saw multiple blue knives sticking out of his back. They were see-through like a hologram. We watched in horror as he disappeared along with the knives which burst into a blue light.

"What the-" Daize nor any of us reacted fast enough. In an instant, multiple blades hit the Archer and whittled his health to zero.

"Soran stick-" I found the knight with a large blue great sword lodged into his chest. The sword itself was also see through as it disappeared, leaving a gaping hole in his chest. Soran immediately disappeared into a blue cube as well.

Holding my Tachi with both hands, I realized that he had stopped attacking. I scanned the treeline looking for the attacker but was only met with a deep and distorted voice.

 ** _"You…"_**

"Show yourself, you coward!" I shouted back.

 ** _"You're like me."_** A knife shot down in front of me. The blue flame-like Aura surrounding it like made me realize what he was talking about. The way the light covered the knife was similar to how my orange Aura covered me and my tachi whenever I activated Enhance.

"Who the hell are you?!" I got no answer. After a good minute, I came to the conclusion that he was gone. Was that really the Demon? He just killed all of my friends in a heartbeat. Just like I killed them…

 _'No! I'm nothing like that weakling fighting in the shadows!'_ That's what I told myself again and again. Unfortunately, I was too stubborn to accept the truth at that time. The truth being that there were two Demons now.

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: The Grand City**


	10. Episode 10: The Grand City

**Episode 10: The Grand City**

"Mari? Can I come in?" I heard a voice outside followed by three knocks on my door. Quickly, I shoved the NerveGear I was holding underneath my bed.

"Yes, Auntie."

In a delicate fashion, she entered my room wearing her white shoulder-less top. She was obviously heading out to meet her friends so it's a surprise that she's here.

"I wanted to talk to you before I went out." She took her seat beside me on my bed. "Our shrine will be hosting the Summer Festival later this month. I understand that's right before you leave?"

 _'Ah… I almost forgot about that.'_

"Yeah…? What about it?" My thoughts recollected as I remembered the topic at hand.

"I was thinking we can double it as your farewell party! Invite your friends, lay out some food..."

 _'I guess I could go out with a bang.'_ I nodded. "Sure, that sounds fun."

She immediately proceeded to hug the hell out of me. I could feel my face squeezing into her chest.

"I'm going to miss you Mari… but I know you'll be okay. Try to make use of the time you have left." After one more squeeze, she finally let me go and exited my room. Hypocrite…

The whole thing was still sinking in. Before the summer started, my mom apparently got promoted to the head manager of an office branch in Hokkaido. Since she would be earning more, she suggested that I stayed with her and continued my schooling there. Of course I took the offer, I barely see her nowadays so I was excited to live with her. Unfortunately, that also meant leaving everything here behind. I've spent my entire life here and for it to just disappear was a little saddening. I'll be fine. I hope.

Remembering what I was going to do, I grabbed my NerveGear from underneath my bed and held it in my hands. I caressed the smooth edges of the sophisticated machine.

"Leave everything behind, huh?" Without any other distractions, I plugged in and slid the device onto my head. I did want to enjoy the time I had left here but there was something else I wanted to do first.

* * *

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

"Welcome to Navea!" Arryn raised her arms while smiling widely. I gawked at all the tall castle-like buildings scattered around the area. The main hub hosted the most players and NPC's in the entire game. Although, it did not look like there were many players around to begin with.

"Where do you want to go first, Megu-chan?"

"Um… marketplace sounds interesting." I wanted to see what accessories I could add to my already too cute to be true avatar.

"Ooh, shopping. I like that." To my surprise, Arryn grabbed my hand and pulled me with her. "Come on then!"

We sped past a few players, each having a unique look, as well as the NPC's, who had more generic looks. Arryn led me to the Marketplace where there were different stalls selling all kinds of goodies.

"Here, NPC's aren't the only merchants. Anyone can open up a store as long as they have the funds and the stock. They sell all kinds of things like weapons, items, and even mounts!"

"Mounts?"

"You know, something like horses or manticores."

"Manticores…?" Isn't riding one of those dangerous?

"Oh, you'll see."

We went window shopping all over the place. She was right, you could buy animals that were used to carry you across maps but they were hella expensive. I stopped at an accessory shop and was going down the store menu when I heard a loud gasp from Arryn.

"What is it?" I glanced at her menu. It was a green emerald necklace laced with gold that gave the user increased health and defense. "Woah. It matches your eyes."

"I know right!" She gave me a big smile. "But… it's for tank classes."

"Aw, that's too bad." If she bought it, it would just be a waste, considering her stats.

"Come on, there must be something here. Maybe you can find something to impress the boys." She said with a slight wink.

"I don't think I want to impress them…" Besides, my character was cute enough as is. Any who say otherwise would get a fireball to the face. We began strolling down the market again when a soft glint caught my eye. In the distance, a tall tower which reached into the clouds was standing ominously over all of us and casted quite a large shadow.

"Hey, Arryn? What's that?" I pointed towards the mysterious structure. Her green eyes followed my finger.

"Oh, I don't know really. Most people call it the Sky Tower. It's apparently some dungeon that hasn't been opened yet."

"What? Why?"

"No one knows. Since launch, people have been trying to get in, they even resorted to scaling the walls but none of their attempts succeeded." Arryn stepped up beside me to admire the tall building. "What do you think is at the top, Megumi?"

"I don't know. The rarest item in the game, probably. Something like a sword that can kill with one hit or a pair of wings that can let you fly around to your heart's content!"

Arryn chuckled at my imagination. "Hopefully one day we'll know. It'll probably be opened in a future update. And when that time comes…"

Stepping forward, she turned around in an elegant manner and held up a finger directly pointed at me.

"We'll be the first players to clear that tower."

"I hope." I smiled. The first players, huh? That didn't sound too bad.

* * *

After buying a few items, including a cute violet flower to add on my left ear, Arryn took me to visit her guild. Large wooden doors as tall as a flagpole opened before us while loud creaks resonated within the stone walls of the large hall. In the middle was a long table like the ones you see in Harry Potter. Candles littered the walls while golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Banners were also placed around the walls with the symbol of a blue and black sword and shield. Around the room, different players were scattered while some were walking back and forth between different doorways. Overall, this place seemed busier than Navea itself.

"This is the headquarters of our guild." Arryn explained as she walked me into the great big room. "We're known as the Cobalt Rangers."

"Blue motif, huh? I'm guessing Jayce is the guild leader?"

"The three of us are actually." From one of the doorways came Kage, the big Ravager class player who was wearing the same black garb. He crossed his arms and grinned at me. "Hello again, Litte One."

"Don't call me that!" I shouted with a flustered face as Arryn laughed.

"Don't take it personally. I'm sure you're taller than him in real life."

"Arryn!" Apparently I wasn't the only one with a height complex too. "Anyway, what brings you two to the guild base?"

"Just showing her around. Is Jayce here?" Arryn asked.

"No but he'll be back shortly. Come, I can guide you through the halls." He turned to me.

"Uh… sure. Why not?"

Kage took us through the same doorway he came out of. It led to a staircase which then led to the second floor of the building. We walked past different bedrooms which decorations varied from room to room.

"How many people do you have in your guild?" I asked.

"Over a hundred by now, right Kage?" Arryn responded as the Ravager nodded.

"One hundred?! How the heck do you guys manage a hundred players?!"

"We don't. You see, the Cobalt Rangers guild is an open guild, meaning anyone can join in. Everyone is free to do whatever they want and even take in benefits from the guild as long as they provide gold and other useful things to help us run the place of course." Arryn stopped us at one of the bigger rooms. Inside was an assortment of weapons and accessories that ranged from common loot to some of the rarest items. "We have our own blacksmith here who makes our weapons. People from the guild can purchase rare items at a lower price or even just take one out for a spin and return it later."

"Players can also team up with other guild members for high level quests. We've always got each other's backs." Kage continued. I was honestly intrigued.

Arryn then turned to me. "With all the tricking and exploitation we've done before, Jayce wanted to actually help people this time to make up. That's why we started this guild."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you're welcome to join too, you know." Kage said. "I can send you an invite right now."

"I can join? What about the others? Like Wairuzu."

"Of course." Arryn answered. "Although, I'm not sure Wairuzu will be fond of that idea. He doesn't seem the type to play well with others."

"I…" I did want to join. But I didn't want to join alone. "…I want to talk it over with the guys first. It'll be more fun if we're together, after all."

"I agree on that point." Arryn smiled as a notification popped up in front of her. She curiously selected the message and read it. "Oh! Jayce is back! Let's go greet him!"

* * *

"Hey!" Arryn waved happily at the blue Ronin who gladly waved back. We had met up back at the main hall. "Where'd you run off to this time?"

"Oh, you know, the usual boss farming." He replied as he showed us his menu. He had managed to climb to level 80 which was quite the feat. "I got you something by the way."

An item screen appeared in front of Arryn as she selected accept. "No way!"

"Huh?" I tilted my head in curiosity.

After navigating through the menu, a golden necklace with an emerald at its center formed around the green Duelist's neck. It looked like the same one we saw back at the marketplace but with different stats.

"You like it?" Jayce smiled. "An Ancient Guardian dropped it. It gives you a boost in attack and speed which should be right up your alley."

"I love it!" She immediately embraced him in a deep hug that even made me blush.

"Um…"

"You know that they're dating right?" Kage asked me.

"What?!"

"Sorry…" Arryn laughed nervously while scratching the back of her head. "I guess I forgot to mention that, huh?"

 _'I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous.'_ Smiling, I nervously laughed. "No, I don't think so."

"Well, welcome to our guild, Megumi." Jayce extended his arms to the side.

"Actually, Megu-chan hasn't decided to join us just yet." Arryn said.

"Oh really? That's unfortunate." He rubbed the facial hair he hadn't on his chin. "Just know that our doors are always open to you."

"Thanks Jayce…" I said. Before any of us could say another word, a group of five players burst into the hall, footsteps turning into loud stomps of clear anger. They all had the same blue color on each of their armors.

"Richter? Back so soon?" Jayce greeted them. "I thought you guys were staying in the Marsh for the rest of the night."

One of the members, a man with heavy armor and a large sword on his back, stepped forward.

"Unfortunately, our hunt was cut short by some hacker. Chuu even had to get a new lance." He pointed at the Lancer class player with a shaved haircut.

"Hacker? Already?" Arryn asked with crossed arms.

"His damage output was insane, man!" Another player with a weird cowboy hat and pistols strapped to his sides spoke up. "We lost most of the gold we gained from ambushing players."

"That's too bad…" Jayce sighed. "Just rest up, guys. You deserve it."

"H-hey, are you a new guild member?" A Bard came out from behind them holding his harp. He looked like he was quite nervous speaking to me. "I'm Jean. Nice to meet you…"

"Um, I'm not actually a member just yet." I replied, although I was really interested to join.

"Right, we haven't properly introduced ourselves." Richter cleared his throat. "As you heard, I'm Richter. Our Bard's Jean, Lancer Chuu, Gunslinger's Taito, and the silent Archer's Raikou."

The Archer in question waved without a sound.

"They're the guild's top players. Besides us, of course." Jayce explained. "They mostly farm the PVP areas for player dropped loot."

"There's not that much players coming in these days, unfortunately. With the new VR games set to release soon, the player base is dwindling."

"It is?" The game had only been recently released recently so I found it hard to believe that people were already sick of it.

"That's the unfortunate consequence when you release a broken game…" Jayce frowned. "After establishing this guild, I've met some pretty decent people. It'd be a shame to see all of that go away."

"Anyway, I'm going to log out. Until next time, Jayce." Richter saluted before exiting the game. The rest of his team just proceeded to the blacksmith room to repair their equipment.

"Everyone's already having a tough time here. Now we got hackers?" The blue Ronin had an angry look on his face. In fact, I've never seen him look like this before. "This game's going downhill, Megumi. Without any administrative control, it won't be long before they're forced to shut it down."

"I really hope it doesn't come to that though." Arryn said. "I actually like it here."

I glanced down. "Yeah... me too."

* * *

I received a message from Wairuzu that he and the guys were hanging out in the Golden Coast Inn in Helonia Coast. We didn't have anything as elegant as a guild hall so we resorted to using the Inn to hang out. It also gave us a chance to visit Mac and Selena from time to time; even if their dialogue would never change everytime we greeted them. As I walked into the establishment, the guys were all sitting around the same round table we've been using for weeks.

"Hey guys!" I happily greeted them.

"Oh, hey Megumi! Nice flower!" Daize was the only one who spoke up and noticed my new accessory while the rest of them sat in solemn silence.

"Thanks! You're the newcomer right?" I broke the silence by speaking to the new face I saw. He looked like he was a Wizard straight out of one of the fantasy movies my mom and I used to watch.

"Hey, I'm Orhaxum." The cyan haired player faintly greeted. He had a kind of dead look on his face while M was crossing his arms with a frustrated expression.

"Okay... clearly something happened while I was gone. What's up?" I received nothing but pure silence for a few seconds before Daize started laughing nervously.

"Well, you see…" He told me everything that had happened at the Marsh. How they were almost wiped out by the same party of players I had met earlier. How they were wiped out anyway by some mysterious player with a bunch of glowing weapons. "Luckily, Wairuzu survived so we got all our stuff back safely. The whole thing was just surreal."

"Speaking of Wairuzu, where is he?" I noticed that he was not sitting with the rest of them.

"Skulking on the roof like a loser." M said.

"Hey!" The Archer sighed. "They had a little fight. I broke them up and-"

"You mean, I did?" Orhaxum interjected.

"Okay, WE did but that's not the point."

"What did you fight about?" I asked.

"Well…"

* * *

The menu blinked as I received the items I had lost from our journey to the Marsh. I managed to get back some gold as well as the potions I used to buff my archery skills. The swordsman had managed to pick up most of our important items and returned them safely. We decided that it would be best to have a drink at the usual Inn and discuss what had happened.

"That was a mess…" Orhaxum leaned back on his chair while sipping a mug of whatever.

"At least we still got our items."

"We still lost EXP." M reminded me. I didn't understand why he was mad about the EXP loss since the amount lost was not that significant, however, that wasn't the main reason why he was angry. "Besides, you almost made me lose the most important item in the game!"

"Stop complaining. Who cares about your stupid hat?!" Wairuzu said with an annoyed tone. "You're the one who died first, anyway! Maybe you should reconsider your skills."

"Easy for you to say with that overpowered ability of yours! I bet all you do is rely on it to get you out of any situation!"

"I…" Wairuzu clearly had no argument against that statement.

"As I thought. Is that why you're the party leader? Because you're stronger than all of us? You haven't changed a bit, Takamura!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Orha slammed the end of his staff on the ground which, this time, ended in a loud bang. "You guys are way too noisy. If you're going to argue, please take this outside."

"Fine." Wairuzu stood up and walked towards the staircase leading up.

"Hey! Wairuzu, M didn't mean all that." I tried to call him back. I looked to my side and nudged Soran who was leaning on his knees, staring at the ground. "Soran, back me up here."

Unfortunately, our valiant knight was not feeling the best after failing to protect one of our party members. I sighed as I sat back down. What we needed right now is a cute face and I was not talking about Soran.

* * *

"…and that's the gist of it." Daize wrapped up his story.

"Why did you call me cute?" Normally, I'd be flattered but this was Daize we were talking about.

"Just stating the facts, Megumi. Anyways, would you like a drink?" The Archer opened the menu and ordered another mug of unknown liquid. Almost immediately, a waitress dressed in a brown uniform delivered them to our table. "It's my treat since I got a boatload of cash from selling all the fish I caught."

"Oh, thank you..." I sat down and brought one of the mugs close to my lips. The drink itself tasted sweet while its texture was soft like ice cream. I don't know if this was supposed to be beer since I didn't really have anything to gauge it on. After my sip, I glanced at Soran who was looking more down than the rest.

"Hey, Soran? You okay?" No response.

"He'll be fine. He just needs to get it out of his system." Daize said.

"Can you tell me what's wrong? I want to help." I tried my best to have a calming voice. Luckily, it seemed to have worked. He finally raised his head and looked me in the eye.

"I… I don't know."

"He feels inadequate because he couldn't protect M." The Archer answered for him.

"Daize!"

The Reaper clicked his tongue. "Seriously? How long are you going to beat yourself up for that? I told you I'm not holding anything against you. I know you did your best."

"See Soran? Everyone knows that you give it your all during a fight. One mistake won't define who you are, it strengthens you so next time you can do better." Inspirational book quotes don't fail me now!

"I... guess you're right, Megumi." He faintly smiled.

"And M? If you think Soran's doing his best, don't you think Wairuzu is too?"

"You don't know him like I do. You don't know the type of person he is in real life."

"Was. He's not like that anymore, M." Daize said with a serious face which was a first.

"How long are you going to keep defending him?!"

"I-I'm not…" The Archer sighed and then turned to me, handing over an extra mug filled with the same drink I had.

"Listen, Megumi. Can you take this to Wairuzu? He hasn't had a drink yet. Tell him his old pal Daize thought of him."

"Wait, why me?"

"Because you've proven to be a very good counsellor. Plus, let's face it, the last thing he needs right now is my stupid face."

Taking the drink, I had no choice but to nod. I was honestly just winging everything I said. Hopefully I could wing it again. I walked to the staircase going up. The second floor was more or less the same as the first only with less people.

 _'Where did they say he was? The roof?'_

* * *

I struggled as my feet almost tipped over the edge. The drinks in my hand spilt a little as I inched my way over the roof and onto the other side where a certain orange haired swordsman sat, staring at the moon which was as bright and majestic as always.

"You have no idea how hard it was to get up here." I said, noticing him flinch a little out of surprise. It wasn't easy climbing out a window with the two mugs in my hands.

"What are you doing here?"

"Daize said you could use a drink." I held the mug out to him. Tilting his head a bit, he accepted it and took a sip.

"Thanks." The swordsman relaxed his back and lay flat on the roof as I took my seat beside him.

"So anyway…"

"How was your date with Arryn?"

"Huh? Oh, it wasn't a date but I had fun! We went to the market and picked some stuff up. I got this flower and… ah, that reminds me!" I swiped through my inventory to find the item I was looking for. "Here!"

"Hm?" Wairuzu accepted the trade request. "A necklace?"

It was indeed a necklace made out of a simple string tied around a crystal claw which gleamed orange. "Consider it as thanks for getting me back into this game."

"You don't need to thank me hones-" Wairuzu paused as he read the description. "This necklace gives me a plus in the luck skill?"

"Yeah… I figured with all the bad luck you've been havi-" My voice came to a halt as the swordsman glared at me.

"Are you saying I have crap luck?"

"I… uh-"

"Thanks."

Silence fell between us as he equipped the necklace. It actually looked really good on him with the orange color matching his hair. Wait. I almost forgot why I was here.

"Hey, Wairuzu?"

"That flower also looks really cute on yo-"

"Will you stop dodging the question?!" I pouted even though I really wanted him to finish his sentence.

He chuckled a little bit before placing his mug down beside him and putting his arms behind his head. "I can't escape, can I?"

"I heard about what happened at the Marsh. You used Enhancer again?"

"Yup."

"Why?"

"This one guy was getting on my nerves. All of them were."

"You know they're calling you a hacker now, right?"

Wairuzu raised his arm into the sky. "What's so bad about that? There aren't any admins here. The only one stronger than me is that Demon. If I can beat him, I can become the strongest player in the game."

"Are you even listening to yourself…?"

His eyes widened as he realized what he said and dropped his arm to his side. "Megumi?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you hate me?"

"Why would I hate you?"

"I'm arrogant, bossy, selfish…"

"M said I didn't know who you are in real life but Daize said you weren't that person anymore. If you don't mind… could you tell me what he meant by that?" A few seconds went by before I got my answer.

"I don't know if I want to talk about it."

"I understand… "

A loud exhale came from his mouth as I shifted uneasily on the rooftop. He was so secretive…

"Not even a little?" I pushed farther. Maybe I shouldn't have but I really wanted to know. I thought he would just shut up at that point but then he sighed.

"Where do I start?"

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: Stories of the Past**


	11. Episode 11: Stories of the Past

**Episode 11: Stories of the Past**

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

 **September 2024**

 _I **d** on't want any **o** ne to ha **te** me._

I gulped as I entered the classroom after being called by the teacher. My Japanese was still rusty but I understood the basics. My first thought after moving here from America was something along the lines of _'I'm going to have so much fun in this new place!'_ However, that attitude only lasted until I stepped foot in that classroom.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" The teacher said. I don't remember much of her face other than she had glasses. I could still recall her thick Japanese accent when trying to speak English. _"Oh, can you speak Japanese? Maybe you're more comfortable with English?"_

"I-" I was usually talkative so it was a surprise my tongue was tied. Sweating, I struggled to find the words to say to the rest of the people watching. That was until some person with glasses broke the silence.

 _"HERRO! AI AM SHIMPEI MATSUO! NAISU TOO MEETCHU!"_ This idiot stood up and bowed right in the middle of the classroom.

"I… I can speak Japanese just fine." I replied.

"Eeeeeeh?!" Everyone burst into laughter, including me. Somehow, this random boy gave me the courage to speak, so I did.

"My name is Hiroyuki Takamura. I am from America. I look forward to working with you all!"

That was how I met the first person I trusted completely.

* * *

 **November 2026**

 ** _I_** _jus **t** d **id** n't **wa** nt an **yo** ne t **o** h **at** e **me** …_

"Get away from him!" Shimpei stood in between a crying boy who was on the ground and a pair of bullies. I don't exactly remember their faces as well, just that they were taller than us. I was intimidated by that fact so I just stood on the side-lines and did nothing. It still remains as one of my first regrets.

"This little rat told on us!"

"That's what you get for cheating!" Shimpei received a punch in the face for that, knocking him onto the ground along with his glasses. His hands shrivelled in pain.

"Don't tell me you hang around these losers, Takamura. You can do so much better." The bullies laughed as they walked off, leaving us to sulk in defeat. I picked up Shimpei's glasses and handed it to him.

"I… I'm sorry." I apologized.

"It's okay. You were scared, that's all." Taking the glasses and putting them on, he turned around and held his hand out to the boy on the ground, all the while smiling as brightly as ever. "More importantly, are you alright?"

"I…" The poor boy wiped the tears from his eyes. It was clear that there was a bruise forming on his cheek as well.

"What's your name anyway?"

"G-genji… Genji Sotomura."

"Well, Sotomura-kun, why don't we head to the nurse's office?" He laughed. I never understood how he could laugh like that all the time, it started to annoy me little by little. Sotomura nodded and accepted Shimpei's hand as he pulled him up.

That was how I met the second person I trusted completely.

* * *

 **April 2031**

My first year of Junior High school started well. Crowds were forming and I was already talking to a lot of people.

"No way! You're half American?" One of the girls asked me. I brushed my hair and nodded like an idiot. A bunch of them made me say some English words and were surprised about how well I could pronounce them. My foreign blood helped grow my popularity almost instantaneously. Of course, I still had my old friends with me.

"You seem to be getting along quite well." Shimpei pushed up his glasses as we sat cross legged in a circle.

"Does that mean I'm doing better than you?" I scoffed at his face.

"Hey! Just you watch, I'll be friends with everyone in class no problem!"

"I don't think popularity is a contest…" Genji was silently eating his lunch which was comprised of different types of store bought rolls.

"I'm just having fun that's all." I took a bite out of my ham and cheese sandwich. Mom was still learning to adapt Japanese dishes in her cooking, after all. "I'm just glad I'm not the new kid anymore."

"Speaking of the new kid…" Shimpei glanced over my shoulder. Our eyes followed to a scrawny boy with a bowl cut and a pair of bright red glasses. He was sitting alone, eating his lunch when four boys approached him.

"That doesn't look good." Genji was spot on. They started pointing and laughing at him. One of them even grabbed the glasses sitting on his face. As the new kid reached out in vain to try to get his specs back, Shimpei stood up, ready to intervene when they turned around and noticed us.

"Hey, Takamura-san! Check out this guy's glasses. It's weird." He wasn't wrong. I've never seen spectacles as red as these ones. I chuckled a little bit. "Here, catch!"

 ** _I…_**

"I got it!" I laughed before catching the glasses and waving them in the air.

"Hey! Give those back!"

 ** _…DON'T..._**

"You're going to have to get 'em!" I took advantage of the growth spurt I had during the summer and stood on my toes.

"Hiro…" Genji stepped forward, only to be stopped by Shimpei.

"Hiro! That's enough!" He shouted.

 ** _…WANT…_**

I ignored him as I passed the glasses to the others who had fun playing monkey in the middle with the new student. Having no choice, Shimpei grabbed me by the shoulders in an attempt to restrain me. Because of that, I ended up head-butting him in the face. Blood trickled down his nose as I turned around slowly.

 ** _…HATE…_**

"Sensei! There's a fight!"

I noticed that the new student was throwing some punches the other boys as well. Of course, he got some in return.

"Matsuo-san, you're bleeding!" A girl followed by two of her friends came up to him and offered him a handkerchief.

 ** _…ME!_**

* * *

I don't know why that experience didn't faze me. The week after, nothing had changed. Save for the fact that Shimpei and Genji had stopped talking to me. As a result, I hung around other peers for a while.

 _'Why do I need them anyway? I got new friends now. I'm one of them now. Why should be around losers like them?'_ That's what I kept telling myself.

"Hey, Chikamoto!" I swiped the new guy's glasses from behind yet again. It had only been a few weeks since the fight yet the people around me still found it funny. It was like I was at the center of an arena, entertaining the masses. "You gotta stop making this easy for me!"

"Give them back Takamura!" I loved it when he struggled helplessly. I was far taller than him so keeping his extra pair of eyes away was fun. I don't remember how many times I did this. Throughout the year, everyone liked picking on him and his bright red glasses so I did too. I learned a long time ago that you can't please everyone so my goal was to get the majority to like me.

 **I just didn't want them to hate me.**

* * *

 **October 2031**

My vision had been fading for a while now. Despite all my efforts insisting I didn't want to get them, my mom had gotten me a pair of glasses. To add to my frustration, they were a bright blue.

"Hey, Takamura's got blue ones!"

"They look even worse than Chikamoto's!"

They laughed at me. They made a fool out of me. They did all the things I have been doing to Chikamoto for a year. That experience taught me that anyone can turn against you. That everyone just wanted something out of everyone. But I also learned that not everyone was like that…

I stood on the top floor with my glasses in my hands, staring out at the view framed by the window in front of me. Angrily, I chucked the pair out of the window. I didn't care if I wouldn't be able to see for the rest of the day. I was quite high so I hoped the specs didn't survive the fall. My back against the wall, I slid down with tears forming in my eyes and my hands curling into painful fists.

"Hey." To my right was Shimpei with his stupid face smiling down on me while Genji stood behind him with a gentler smile. How the hell could they smile at me again? "You know glasses are expensive, right?"

"Why are you talking to me?" I asked, sniffing a little.

"Aren't we best friends?"

* * *

 **August 2034**

"That's basically why they hate me. The guy I picked on moved away recently. It's my fault that he did, after all." I finished my story. I didn't tell Megumi the specific real life details obviously but I gave her just enough to feed her curiosity.

"That sounds horrible."

"I am. I guess that's one of the reasons why I started playing this game… to become a better person." I sat up and gazed at my hand as it curled into a fist. I've never felt more ashamed or angrier at myself than now. "But look where that's gotten me. Nothing's changed."

"I don't believe that." She said. "The person you were back then wouldn't have invited a complete stranger back into this game."

It took me a few seconds to realise that she was talking about herself. "How do you know I'm not just using you?"

"I don't. That's where my trust in you comes in."

"H-huh?" I stuttered a bit. Attempting to regain my composure, I cleared my throat. "Anyway, are we done now?"

"You really hate expressing your feelings, don't you?"

"I really hate that, yes." Although I had to admit, there was something about her that made her so calming.

* * *

"Welcome back, you two!" Daize had another stupid grin which told me he was going to start teasing once more. I firmly chopped his head and interrupted him before he could speak a word. "Hey! What was that for?!"

"Where's M and Orha?" I asked, ignoring his question.

"They logged out. It's getting pretty late." Soran smiled. I honestly didn't think he would smile again so soon after all that had happened. "I just wanted to wait for you two to finish before I said goodbye."

Daize let out a small laugh before attempting to hold it in to no avail. I chopped his head again. This time, he knew what he did wrong and stayed silent.

"Anyways, thank you, Megumi. You're a great friend!"

"Really?!" Her face flushed red before she grinned back. "You're very much welcome, Soran!"

The knight waved goodbye before disappearing from the game in a blue flash. Yawning, I realized I was also tired. The fight in addition to all the heavy stuff I just dropped onto our adorable sorcerer must have drained me to the max.

"I guess I'm going to split as well. You two logging off?"

"I'm probably sticking around for a bit." Daize said.

"Me too." Megumi added.

"Okay, suit yourselves. Try not to pester her too much, Daize."

"Hey!"

"Take care, Wairuzu." The Sorcerer told me.

"You too."

* * *

"You're not logging out?" I turned to the girl who was standing beside me. I had planned to enjoy the feeling of VR for a little while but I had not expected her to stay as well.

"I have a question."

"Of course you do." I sat down once more and propped my feet up on the table. "Don't you think you're being a little too nosy, Megumi?"

"I-I… Ugh, you're probably right. I just don't like seeing you guys like this. It makes me want to help but if I'm going to do that, I need to know you."

Exhaling, I put my feet back on the ground and leaned on the table. I could never refuse such a cute face, after all. Plus, she's actually a girl in real life so I had to be a gentleman. "Alright, what do you want to know? Whether I'll answer or not will depend on the question."

She composed herself and inhaled before she spoke up. "Why did you go back to him after everything he did? I also noticed that you're always on his side no matter how badly he treats you."

I laughed. "You think I suck up to him, don't you?"

"Kind of… yeah."

"M thinks like that too. It might seem like I'm just his lackey but it's nothing like that. A lot had happened in just a span of three years. We've been through hell and back together. He keeps me grounded and I guess the only reason I forgave him was because it didn't feel right to leave him alone. God knows he'd go crazy without us."

"I see…"

"You know, this isn't fair. We've told you all kinds of things about us in real life yet we know nothing about you, besides your gender of course."

"Huh? Oh, I guess you're right. What do you want to know?"

"Your real name and phone number."

"I don't think I'll go that far!" She immediately replied.

Chuckling, I slapped the surface of the table. "I'm just joking."

"So… what DO you want to ask me that doesn't involve me calling the police?"

Scratching my head, I groaned. "You know, I think you should talk to Wairuzu about that. You two seem to get along splendidly."

"I get along with everyone." She pouted. "Anyway, what time do you plan on sleeping?"

"Don't know. Maybe I'll just sleep here." I rested my legs back on the table and leaned into my chair.

"I'll be off then." She yawned. Before she could log out, I interrupted her.

"Hey, Megumi."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for being friends with us. Wairuzu especially, you're what he really needs right now."

"Since when did you get all cheesy?" She smirked.

"Since everyone left. I have to keep up with my image, after all." I gave her a cheeky wink.

"Right. Good night, Daize." With a single flash, she left, leaving me to my thoughts.

 _'Keeping up with my image… it's an exhausting job for sure.'_

* * *

I still remember what he looked like. The image of him was still fresh in my mind. _'Uncle RJ'_ I'd call him in pure English. I still remember his scruffy hair and the rough patch of the barely-growing beard he had. My mom always said he was trying to grow it out so he can become Santa Claus but it had never gotten longer than that.

"A desert!" I always bugged him everytime he would come to visit. I knew he was making a game at that time so I could never resist asking him about it. After all, it's his fault I'm addicted to these things in the first place.

"Why would you want to visit a desert?" I still remember his deep voice. I always got super excited whenever I heard it.

"Deserts are so cool! They're like beaches without the water. If I could go to a desert, I would build the biggest sand castle in the world!"

"Sure. I could work with that…" He always wrote down his notes on a small memo pad I gave him for Christmas after saving a month's worth of allowance.

"Ooh! When it comes out, I better be the first one to play it!" He always laughed and ruffled my hair whenever I said that.

"Sure thing, _my Hero_." He'd always call me that stupid nickname just because my name sounded similar to the English word for hero. I remember feeling honored to have such a cool name.

You know, I've always wanted to be like him. He was always smiling like nothing was wrong. Just like Shimpei, I never knew why. The answer was probably the fact that he barely had any problems in his life. He was smart, graduating the top of his class every time without fail. He did what he loved which was making games and tinkering with technology. His life was my dream. His goals were mine. I was so proud to be related to him, the man who would change the world. The moment I was born, he was there. The moment I first rode a bike, he was there. So why couldn't he be there for all the other times? He was working on his game. He was working on Aura Kingdom Online. He chose that game over his family.

 **He chose that game over me.**

* * *

I groggily rubbed the sleep from my eyes. _'Another dream...'_

Checking the clock on the drawer beside my bed, I found that it was almost lunch time. I must have overslept. What even happened last night? I stopped myself from thinking about it too much.

"Big brother?" I glanced at the slightly open doorway and found my sister staring at me wearing a pink blouse. "Mommy said she needed you downstairs."

"Who said you can enter my room?"

"But I'm not in your room." Damn it. She was right, standing at the tip of the door frame. Smartass…

"Look, I'll be right down. And stop calling me that. I told you to call me Wai- I mean Hiro."

"Nope!" She annoyingly skipped away, shutting my door closed. Exhaling loudly, I laid back down and stared at the ceiling. I almost forgot my name was Hiro. I guess I've been spending too much time as Wairuzu. Without any more delays, I picked up my glasses and headed downstairs.

"Mom? Is there any food left? I'm star-" I stopped in my tracks at the sight of a woman with short hair and thin glasses. She was wearing a business uniform with the fancy tie and all that. Compared to my shorts and shirt combo, she was definitely dressed for a formal occasion.

"Hiro, this is Nami Sakiyama." My mother introduced her.

"I'm a lawyer representing RECT Progress Inc. I'm here to discuss the matter regarding your uncle."

 _'Him? Why…?'_ I cleared my throat. "Sure, but why do I need to be involved?"

"Because I think you'll want to hear what she has to say." My mom replied.

We gathered around our dining table as she set a suit case down on top of it and began talking. "Years ago, RECT Progress Inc. was a division of the company owned by Shouzou Yuuki. It shut down in 2025 due to lawsuits regarding a certain incident. Your uncle, Langston-san, basically saved the company by working together with us to produce the AuraSphere. It was an honor to work with him."

 _'Just get to the point.'_ I still got annoyed whenever I heard his name followed by a flurry of praises.

"As a result, he holds a high regard with the company. As such, we want to respect his wishes before we sever our ties with him."

"What?" I felt something tick off inside me. "Sever?"

"There were casualties during the explosion at our main Tokyo branch. The police have connected the cause of the blast to the server rooms where the last ID that was registered was your uncle's. They had to assume that-"

"You can't assume anything! I'm sure he didn't do it!" Standing up, I raised my voice.

"Hiro!" My mom sat me back down. I didn't know why I said that. I didn't know why I was defending him. After all, I wasn't actually sure he would cause an explosion that would kill people, was I? I didn't know who he was after he left me.

"I understand your distress, Takamura-kun. But seeing that he has been connected to that incident, RECT cannot afford to align with him. This involves treating him as an outside entity and commencing the closure of the Aura Kingdom Online servers."

"What…?" My eyes widened. That meant that the world Uncle RJ had been working on for years would be gone in a flash. His last project would be forever forgotten. The world where my friends and I experienced VR for the first time… gone.

"However, since the legal contract stated that he is the sole provider and owner of the servers. We cannot shut them off without his consent. I'm sure you can see the problem here."

 _'No Uncle, no permission. Tough luck.'_

"The only options we have are to either keep the servers running until his ownership dissolves in two years or get the permission from a close relative."

"So that's what you want me to do?" No way in hell would I allow them to shut down the servers.

"Oh you are not why I am here. We cannot allow that since you are still underage. You would have to be 20 years old to sign the contract. Your mother will be the one to decide since she is the only other biological relative living within Japan." Opening the suitcase, she revealed a dozen sheets of papers which were probably the contracts she had mentioned.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Hiro." My mom's face was uneasy.

"No… you are not shutting the game down!" I yelled. "All of Uncle RJ's years of work will be gone!"

"But Hiro…"

"You'll be singlehandedly destroying everything he's dedicated his life for! Why would yo-"

"Do you think I don't know that?!" Tears started forming in her eyes which made me waver a bit. It had been a long time since she's shouted at me. "If I refuse to sign these contracts, we will be the ones to pay for the server costs. You know we can't afford that."

"Why…? If I could find a part-time job, maybe we could-"

"No Hiro, I don't want us worrying over something that isn't ours. Your uncle loved making that game, yes, but he's gone. It's been weeks and we still haven't found him. I don't know if he's alive or dead but I don't want to feel like this anymore! I want to move on!"

"But…" I didn't want AKO to go down the drain. Despite its flaws, it was still a game I enjoyed.

"Actually, you have a grace period of a month until the decision will be made. Until then, the company has decided to wait and see if the game can be salvaged." I immediately turned my attention to the lawyer. "Currently, the player base is dwindling. The board knows that keeping the servers up is wasting resources and money. If, somehow, they are convinced that this game is profitable before the end of that period, they might just keep the servers running indefinitely."

"I see. So all we have to do is increase the player base?" That was easier said than done. With all the new games coming out and AKO not really being in the best shape, it was going to be a challenge to draw in more players.

Sakiyama cleared her throat and got our attention. "I don't know if I am allowed to divulge this information but the company is planning on having an event before summer ends. Take it as a final push to see if the game could still sell."

"An event? Like what?"

"I'm sorry, I cannot say anymore but the announcement should be soon though."

"Hiro…" My mom stood up and held onto my shoulders.

"Takamura-san." She turned to my mom. "I will need your answer."

"Please, mom… just for a month. I don't want to stop playing this game." I begged.

She hesitated before letting out a sigh. "One month. If RECT isn't taking responsibility of the servers, I will sign that contract."

"Very well." She stood up and closed her suitcase. Before she walked off, however, she faced me.

"A piece of advice, Takamura-kun, if I were you…"

"Huh?"

"…I would join a guild."

* * *

That night, I called everyone to the teleport Crystal in Navea. It was our first time going to the Grand City together so even M was there despite the fact that he was probably still mad at me for yesterday. Once everyone had arrived, we gathered around the main square which had a few other players loitering around.

"…that's pretty much it." I explained the situation to my friends.

"That's bad…" Daize scratched his head. "If this game goes belly-up, we'll be forced to buy another game. We'll lose way more money."

"That's what you're worried about?" Megumi rolled her eyes at the archer. "I don't want this game to go down too. How can we help?"

"She said we couldn't do anything yet… but there should be an event at the end of the summer which requires us to join a guild or something. It's supposed to entice new players to dive in."

"So that's why you brought us here." Soran realized. Navea was the hotspot for guilds, after all. "So which guild are we joining?"

"Oh! Right! I forgot to tell you guys yesterday." Megumi proceeded to tell us about the Cobalt Rangers guild, the one run by Jayce, Arryn, and Kage. She mentioned some pretty interesting stuff regarding the economy of guilds and the benefits they had.

"That sounds like an interesting offer." Soran said.

"We'd have special ranks right?" Daize asked.

"Arryn's taken…?" M frowned. He was a lot more calmed down, however, we still avoided eye contact with each other.

"It's the best guild we can enlist in. I want to join of course but I also wanted to get your opinions on it first." She firmly set her eyes on us. "So, if you're willing, please join me!"

"I'm in."

"Yup."

"No problem here."

The other three guys immediately agreed to the sorcerer's request. I sighed as Soran gave his answer.

"I think I'm in too… are you cool, Wairuzu?"

"No." I said.

"Come one, dude. You said it yourself; we need a guild for the event." Daize pointed out. "I know you don't like Jayce and the others but they're our best bet if we're going to help this game."

"I know, but…" I exhaled and firmly glared at the rest of my friends. Nothing could change my mind now. "…I want to make our own guild!"

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: The Ghost Mission**


	12. Episode 12: The Ghost Mission

**Episode 12: The Ghost Mission**

"Haa…" I leaned against the wall of the Navean Guild Hall. This was the place where you could register a guild for a fee. The fee itself was not much, just a feeble 10 gold so the roadblock we encountered wasn't money, it was the name.

"Blade of Swords?"

"Sounds redundant."

"The Fishermen Brigade?"

"No, M."

"Who would have thought that what would stop us from forming a guild would be the actual name?" Daize joined me.

"We'll just have to keep brainstorming then! For now, why don't we have a temporary guild name?" Megumi skipped out of the building and stretched her arms. "We can just save up some gold and rename it later."

"You're forgetting about the upkeep cost. We'll have to pay around 700 gold each week to keep the guild up." I mentioned. Guilds were taken seriously in this game. The more members you have, the more expensive your guild tax was. In exchange, we would get weekly bonus items to add to our stock. The entire economy of it made my head spin.

"That means we'll have to grind then." Soran laughed softly.

"Ugh." I gagged at the thought of mindlessly cutting down enemies over and over again but we still needed the cash.

"I guess they're really pushing those micro transactions." M stated. It was good that a temporary peace had been settled between us due to our plans for a guild but the rift was still there. "No wonder the player base is dwindling."

"Of course, the alternative is joining the Cobalt Rangers. Not only will that secure us a guild but it will also allow us access to resources we may need in the future." Orhaxum pointed out.

"No way. I want this to be just us." I walked towards the entrance of the building once more. "I'll take Megumi's suggestion and make a guild with a temporary name. We'll just have to change it later."

Before I could enter, however, a notification screen popped up. I noticed that it had appeared to all the other players in the surrounding area.

"Official announcement?" Daize read the message out loud before a screen showing an old man with a long white beard standing in front of a red and golden throne. He wore robes of the same colors along with a Papal tiara laced with gold. In his hand was a staff of gold with a blue crystal sticking out of its end.

"Greetings, Envoys of Gaia. My name is Belenus, the Grand Bishop of Navea."

* * *

 **Opening: Crossing Field by LiSA**

* * *

All of us had our eyes glued on the screen. "This must be the event…"

"The secrets of the mysterious Sky Tower have been revealed to me by the gods. This information is what I will share with you now."

All of us uneasily shifted around.

"The Sky Tower is made up of 100 floors; each one has a great monster you must defeat in order to progress to the next one."

"What is this? Sword Art Online?" M chuckled.

"This challenge is open to any guild willing to participate in it. However, in order gain access to the tower, you will need a Gaia Key." A glowing blue diamond suddenly appeared in his hand followed by seven more, each a different color. The floating objects circled around him in a line. "There are eight keys in total scattered across the land of Azuria. Find one and your guild can have access to the tower when it opens at the end of this summer."

He paused to catch his breath and stroked his beard. "As for the reward… the eight guild leaders who reach the 100th floor will form the new elite council that will reign over this world."

"What?!"

"You're kidding!"

 _'Elite council? And what the hell did he mean by reign over this world?'_

"That ends my message. May the gods bestow upon you their blessings." The feed then shut off.

"No time to lose then." I curled my right hand into a fist and smiled. Maybe this was my chance to keep this game alive. "Let's go make a guild!"

* * *

I felt uneasy as we entered the hall of the Cobalt Rangers. Wairuzu had already made our guild yet we were still welcome to visit this one. I guess I just felt embarrassed about turning down Arryn's offer without telling her. Suffice to say, the swordsman was not too happy when I received an invite to come to their base. We found the head trio gathered around the long table, surrounded by a couple of guild members.

"There you guys are! Glad you could make it." Jayce pulled away from a crowd of people examining the world map of Azuria. He was wearing some sort of mix between a traditional samurai armor and light chain-mail. "I heard you guys formed a guild."

"Yeah…" Daize scratched his head before showing him our guild menu **: [Name Redacted]**. "It's a temporary name until we can all agree on a proper one."

"I see…"

"Anyways, I called you guys over for this!" Arryn showed us the map that was laid down on the table. "We're currently deploying scouts on the field to look for the Gaia Keys. So far, we've posted players across most of the high level areas since the keys are most likely going to be a challenge to retrieve."

"I guess all those eyes come in handy." I said. "Can I ask… why are you telling us this in the first place?"

"Well, we didn't expect you to form your own guild." Arryn answered. "To be honest, we were looking forward to working together as one guild. That doesn't mean we still can't work as friends."

"Yeah, we can still manage as two guilds." Kage said.

"Once we've located a dungeon with a key, we'll send people to secure the area until we arrive. That way we're able to have an equal playing field when it comes to the tower raid." Jayce said.

"Wait, what do you mean secure?" Wairuzu asked.

"Well, it's a given fact that all the guilds in this game are currently scrambling to find a key to the tower so obviously we're going to have to be fast in securing our own."

"You're going to keep players from entering the dungeons?" He crossed his brows and made an angry face. "What happened to an equal playing field?"

"Hey now, do you even know what's at stake, Wairuzu? The prize at the top of that tower is full control of the land. You know what that means, don't you?"

"Enlighten me…"

"Administrative control. The guild leaders that reach the top of the tower become this game's new admins. I don't want just anyone taking those positions. Right now the only people who I believe can help this game are you and me. As long as we're on that council, we should be fine."

"And if there's only one key left, what are we going to do? Share the prize?"

Jayce sat on the table and chuckled. "Of course one of us would have to lose. We can't both share the same key. You know what, Wairuzu? Why don't we decide that over a match?"

"A match?"

"If there's only one key left, we'll start a one on one fight. Whoever wins that gets to have the it." Jayce smiled as he reached his hand out. "What do you say to that, fellow swordsman?"

At first I thought Wairuzu was going to refuse but then he actually took Jayce's hand and shook it with a grin. "Deal. But don't think I'll go easy on you."

"Very well! As of now, the Cobalt Rangers and… Name Redacted will work together to find the Gaia Keys. Once we get two keys, we'll clear the floors together until we get to the top."

"Sounds great!" Arryn jumped in joy and grabbed my hands. "I can't wait to clear the tower with you, Megu-chan!"

"Yeah, me too." I smiled back at her.

As the crowd dispersed, the guys went off to the armory which Jayce had opened to us to get upgraded equipment. I was busy sifting through some of my gear when Wairuzu tapped me on the shoulder.

"So what do you think?" He asked me.

"About what?"

"Jayce and his crew. I have to admit, I'm a little uneasy teaming up with them."

"What are you worried about, specifically?" I tried to narrow down his thoughts.

"I don't know. Megumi, you know I'm not one to trust people easily."

"Yeah, but you trusted me."

"I-" His faced turned red as he tried to look away. It was the first time I saw him like that. It was cute in a way. "You're different."

"How?"

He shook his head. "Look, what I'm trying to say is… do you trust them?"

I pondered over his question. It's true that he had every right to be suspicious of them after everything we've been through but at the same time I wanted to believe that people could change.

"Not completely but I think it's best if we form new friendships with them instead of fostering hatred, don't you think so too?"

"I guess you're right. I'll try not to be an asshole then."

 _'Did I actually cure his cynicism?'_ As I turned back to my item screen, I heard a notification sound go off.

"Hm?" Wairuzu examined his screen. His eyes scanned the text written on it. Curiously, I tilted my head.

"What is it?" Leaning over, I tried to read what he was reading but I was only met with a blank screen.

"It's another quest written in orange letters…" He glanced at me. "You still can't see it, can you?"

"Nope. What does it say?"

"Something about… Ozymand Temple?"

* * *

"Ozymand Temple." Jayce pointed to a giant structure in the middle of the map of Star Sand Desert. "It's a high level dungeon filled with all sorts of goodies."

"You think it might hold a Gaia Key?" Megumi asked.

"Checking it out is worth a shot." Kage walked in between our conversation. "How did you get that quest anyways?"

"I don't know. It's similar to that Pirate quest we got back then. Only I could see it for some reason."

"Interesting…" Jayce scratched his chin. "Since this is our only lead, we should see where it goes. Arryn, can you keep tabs on any incoming information we may have?"

"Sure thing!" Arryn popped out from her screen. Altogether, it seemed like this entire operation was going smoothly for them. As a guild, they were totally in sync.

"Great, we can head out to Star Sand immediately. I'll go get your friends." Jayce closed his screen and made his way to the armory.

"Wait, we?" I asked Kage who was busy sending messages to other players.

"Yeah. Jayce wanted to team up with you guys." The Ravager answered. "Even if I wanted to too..."

"Aw, you're so cute!" Arryn laughed and attempted to pinch his cheeks but was not able to reach them due to his height.

"Arryn, please stop…"

"Right!" Jayce returned from the armory along with the rest of my guild.

Daize had extra chainmail applied to his outfit, Soran had changed his armor to a darker shade but kept the gold trimmed edges, Orhaxum had a steel armor set that made him look more like a battle mage and M had a new black hood with chains wrapped around him; he was still wearing his stupid Dagon hat of course.

"Wait, parties have a limit of 5 people. If you're going to join, two of us are going to have to leave." I told Jayce.

In reply, he chuckled. "Oh yeah…"

"I can leave." M raised his hand and grinned. "I'd rather fish anyways."

"Are you sure? You might miss something cool." Soran said.

"Yeah. Besides, I'd rather not party up with Wairuzu. Just don't raid the tower without me, eh?" He swiped through his menu and left the party. Clearly he wanted as much time away from me as possible.

"O-of course." I replied.

"I'll accompany you. I am curious to see what the fishing system can provide." Orhaxum said.

"That settles it then." The blue Ronin faced the Reaper. "Thanks for that, Orhaxum and Mnbb…"

"Just call him M." The Wizard told him.

"Shall we?" Daize stepped forward.

"Oh, invite please." Jayce smiled at me. Never in a million years would I have thought Jayce would be joining my party. Nevertheless, it wouldn't hurt to see what he could do again. I was specifically curious about that combo he had with Arryn. Was that something you could do with everyone?

"Added." I double checked the party menu and sure enough, Jayce was a member. His level 87 status was also starting to trigger me.

"Teleport Crystal's this way, lady and gentlemen." Daize marched on towards the huge doors of the hall. We haven't been to Star Sand Desert yet so this was going to be an interesting expedition.

* * *

The wind blew particles of sand across a damp, dusty plain. The sun shone hotter than anywhere else in the game but it didn't really hinder us as we trudged through the desert. Monsters like giant scorpions and centipedes surrounded us but as long as we didn't provoke them, they left us alone. A small breeze blew particles of sand towards us but luckily, I had my orange scarf to cover my face so half of it was hidden. Daize was in front along with Soran who was using his shield as an umbrella to keep the sun from shining on Megumi. Jayce and I were pacing behind them so I decided that I would ask him now.

"Hey, Jayce?"

"Yeah?"

"That combo you did with Arryn. Is that a skill?"

"Hm…" He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "It kind of is, I guess."

"How'd you come up with it?"

"Arryn would probably tell you it came from the power of love or something."

"Ugh." He laughed at my disgust.

"Well, the first time we did that, it just kind of happened. It's kind of a muscle reflex you know? All of a sudden. It's not like there's a tutorial that explains this."

"That's true… the only tutorial I ever got was from that one lady in Port Skandia and even that wasn't comprehensive."

"I know right." He leaned back and squinted at the sun. "Wairuzu, despite all that, do you still like this game?"

"Huh? Of course I do. It's my first VR game."

"I love this game" He grinned.

"Says the guy who planned to jump ship as soon as another game came along?"

"Hey!" His footsteps scrambled. "That was a long time ago, AKO's grown on me since then."

"How so?" I tiled my head towards him.

"Let's admit it, in real life we are nothing. Just small people who don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. But in here…" He glanced at his right palm. "…in here, we can be anything we want to be. We can put on any mask we want. That's probably why I spend more time in here than in real life."

"Dude, are you okay?"

Jayce nervously laughed it off. "Just some food for thought."

"You do have a point though." I don't even know how many hours a day I was in full dive. If you compare the amount of time in a week where I was Hiro, it would be miniscule as the time I spent as Wairuzu.

"Are we there yet?" I suddenly heard Megumi groan from the front.

"Almost. The marker is getting closer." Daize checked his mini-map.

"Hehe, you said that five minutes ago." Soran gently smiled as he adjusted his arm which held the shield above our Sorcerer's head.

"Hey, guys? Is it me or is the wind picking up?" Megumi held her tome tightly as the gust blew sand towards us. I attempted to step forward but was met with an even stronger gale.

"It gets stronger each step we make!" Jayce trudged forward, arms shielding his face. The blowing wind made it hard to hear him.

"Megumi, stay behind me!" Soran told her as she grabbed onto his back. The two moved forward in unison with his shield raised.

The rest of us pulled out our weapons and used them to get a foothold in the sand which was rapidly shifting which each step we took. As we advanced, the sand storm got thicker and thicker until we had almost no visibility.

"Are you even sure we're in the right place?!" I yelled at our special navigator who was struggling to keep his balance with his bow.

"Hey, if I say it's here then it's here!"

"Guys!" I heard Megumi's voice beyond the wall of sand in my face. After a few more steps, I felt the wind die down. The sun shone once more as I blinked at the valley below me.

At its center stood a tall church like structure made out of what I assumed was sandstone. It had this rough surface and jagged, broken off edges. In the arch was a wooden gate surrounded by metal with a gem in the center of it. It was orange just like the text of the quest I received. The surrounding area was chock full of ruined pillars and walls which really gave off a temple like vibe.

"See?! What'd I tell ya?! Daize strikes again!" I immediately trimmed his ego with another chop to the head.

"There's Ozymand Temple." Jayce sighed in relief.

"The Gaia Key's in there?" Soran finally lowered his shield.

"It better be." I said.

We carefully made our way down the slope and found ourselves within the ruins. It was a maze like structure with the walls and pillars towering around us like trees. Up close, it was pretty easy to get lost.

"Now let's see…" Daize carefully examined his map once more. "There's an intricate path through this maze, if we follow it, we can-"

My sword slashed across the wall as it bounced off in an instant, leaving a small scrape. Stepping backwards, I repositioned myself for another swing.

"What the hell are you doing?" The archer deadpanned.

"Trying to break the wall. We need to finish that dungeon first remember?" Breathing heavily, I focused my mind again. "Enhance!"

Orange Aura covered my body as I swept in for another hit. With a couple of slices, I managed to break down the section of the wall in front of us. Behind it, however, stood a skeleton with a sword and shield in hand. All of us yelled in surprise at the same time, save for Megumi who immediately fired a bolt of light at it, shattering it in one hit.

"Skeletons…?" She said as we heard multiple footsteps converging on our location. The scattered bones on the ground started shifting as it gathered together. These things could regenerate!

"Come on! I can get us there in no time!" Raising my tachi, I smashed the bones apart and slashed at the other walls in front of us as Daize leapt up.

"There's a lot more of them coming!" He yelled, standing high on top of the wall. "They're piling over the walls!"

A dozen flaming arrows flew towards our direction and met their marks a foot away from us. Now the skeletons had archers too. I immediately proceeded to knock down each wall in front of us as we ran. Daize stayed up on the walls and returned fire, however, that didn't stop the skeletons from reaching us. One of them with a great sword brought the blade down on top of us. Soran immediately blocked the hit with his shield and sliced the monster apart. Megumi was alternating between elemental bolts, destroying any other skeletons climbing over the walls. All the while, arrows were still raining down on us. One of them managed to hit Daize in the shoulder, knocking him down on the ground.

"Those arrows are annoying as hell." He said as Megumi healed him. I stopped in my tracks and turned around.

"We have to keep moving!" I told them as Daize got up.

"We won't survive the arrow rain in these conditions." Jayce said.

"Hold on, guys! I'll try something." Closing her eyes, the Sorcerer opened her tome and chanted some weird words before shouting her skill. "Gaia's Protection!"

A white force field emanated from her book and surrounded us. Any incoming arrows got destroyed as soon as they hit the shield, although that didn't stop the melee skeletons from advancing.

"We need to hurry. I don't know how long I can hold this up!"

Picking up the pace, the five of us ran towards the next hole I created. Smashing through more walls, we got closer and closer to the temple. Megumi stayed in the middle of our formation, protected by Soran, Daize, and Jayce who managed to take down any incoming skeletons with swords. Thanks to Gaia's Protection, the arrows weren't a bother anymore.

"Argh!" I held my glowing tachi and panted as I saw the doors of the temple within our reach. Unfortunately, I was already wearing off so I deactivated Enhance. "There it is!"

"No time to waste!" Jayce sped forward and touched the gem at the center of the door. The whole thing lit up an orange hue as the surrounding structure creaked. As soon as the doors had opened, a bright orange beam of light shot up into the sky. "Everyone in!"

We hurriedly rushed into the building as the skeletons behind us made their final charge. There were thousands of them now. Fortunately, we managed to make it with just a few scrapes. Megumi collapsed onto the ground and breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was a close one." She said as she started laughing.

"My favorite part was when Daize got hit by an arrow." I chuckled as I leaned against the wall.

"Of course it is…" Our Archer grinned.

"Still, we made it!" Soran practically jumped in joy. "Jayce you wer- Jayce?"

The blue Ronin was worriedly pacing back and forth. In front of him was a message screen connected to what I assumed was Arryn back in Navea.

"What's wrong?" The Knight asked him.

"That beam of light. It's a beacon for Gaia Keys. We've gotten reports that other dungeons around the world have lit up as well." He stopped and stared at the ground. "We need to hurry. Other players could come soon and turn this dungeon into a PVP zone."

He sped past us as we followed. The interior was dimly lit by the small holes in the roof which allowed the sunlight to sweep in. We followed a path of light towards the end where a large arc stood. Beyond it was pitch black with only a faintly glowing white circle in the middle.

Jayce stopped at the edge of the arc. "Careful, guys. We don't know what could be beyond this place."

The rest of us slowly stepped forward with our weapons drawn. Megumi stayed in the center of our formation as we crept closer and closer to white circle. The sorcerer stopped and opened her tome.

"Gaia's Light!" A ball of light formed in her hands as she lifted it up to the ceiling. The bright warmth enveloped the room and allowed us to see four chests in each corner. They were red in color with golden edges.

"Hey, loot!" Daize smirked.

"Shush!" I paused. My ears picked up a faint breathing coming from right above us. I didn't have time to look up though. In a flash, a gust of wind followed by a tremendous tremor hit us hard. My eyes widened at the sight before me.

 _"What would be guarding the sandcastle then?" Uncle RJ asked me._

 _"A Minotaur!"_

 _He chuckled. "Why would a Minotaur be guarding a sandcastle? Shouldn't he be in the middle of a labyrinth?"_

 _"That can be on the outside…"_

The hooves of the huge monster stomped furiously as a gust of hot air exited its pierced nose. Two horns stuck out from its head paired with the glowing red eyes made it look like a devil. In its huge, hairy hands was a giant great sword that was just as tall as its wielder. Four rows of health bars appeared beside it as the name Minos appeared above them. He was at a manageable level compared to what we've dealt with before.

 _'Damn it.'_ I couldn't stop myself from smiling _. 'You just had to use my favorite monster, huh?'_

"Usual formation, everyone!" I shouted then turned to the other Ronin. "Oh, um…"

"Don't worry, I can support you from behind!" We nodded at each other before running forward towards the boss. It brought its sword down as Soran activated his Iron Wall. The blade bounced back, allowing us to cut at its legs.

Multiple arrows dug into the Minotaur's chest and caused it to snarl at Daize who was leaping across ledges scattered around the area. The monster attempted to swing at the nimble Archer but only managed to hit a support column, knocking debris down onto the ground. Jayce and I circled back and dragged our blades through the back of its ankles, making it kneel in pain. However, it snorted and immediately spun around with its sword. In less than a second, we were knocked back into the wall. A bubble of green energy surrounded us as Megumi cast her skill. Our healths slowly started to regenerate when Minos decided to notice us.

In a flash, Daize leapt onto the Minotaur and grabbed it by the horns. "Let's see how long I can hold on!"

This caused the monster to let out a mighty roar and swing its sword around aimlessly. The blade unfortunately hit our Knight who was dragged backwards but never lost his footing. The Minotaur shook its head and overpowered Daize, sending him flying towards a wall.

"Fifteen seconds, tops!" I shouted before slicing the beast across the left leg.

"Do you guys always do stupid things during boss fights?" Jayce grunted as he leapt and slashed at the other leg.

"Only when we're confident." I grinned. "Megumi, I think we got its attack patterns down! You can switch to offensive!"

The sorcerer nodded with a smile and opened her tome. Four large circles spun around in front of her before releasing a flurry of light bolts. They each hit their marks and blinded the Minotaur temporarily as it angrily retaliated.

"Blind attacks!" Daize shouted.

"Copy!" I responded. Usually the first one to memorize a boss's move set was our keen eyed Archer.

Responding accordingly, Jayce and I wove in between the blind swings made by Minos. I raised my tachi behind me and redirected one of the swings downwards.

"Soran, catch!" I shouted.

Soran dashed forward and held his shield up to intercept the hit. The great sword clashed with the shield and let out a metallic clang that shook the whole room.

"Three second delay!" The Archer pulled out a power shot and fired it at the Minotaur's eye while me and the other Ronin sliced at the legs again. Megumi fired more bolts at the monster as it stumbled back towards us. To my surprise, it turned around and brought its weapon down on me.

Instinctively, I raised my sword up even if I knew I probably wasn't able to carry that weight. The sound of clashing steel rang out as I shut my eyes and prepared to be knocked back but instead I opened them and found Jayce standing beside me, holding back the great sword as well.

"On three!" He grunted.

"How about now?!" We released our swords and jumped to the side, sending the Minotaur's blade crashing into the ground.

Speeding towards Minos, we charged up our blades. All of a sudden, time was slowed for me. I could see Jayce right beside me as we landed the first hit. Landing on the ground, I leapt back into action as the other Ronin followed. We went back and forth, covering the beast in blue and orange lights. Jumping up, our tachis drove through the chest of the Minotaur and exited through its chin. As we floated in the air, we simultaneously shouted our finishing blow.

 **"CRESCENT SLICE!"**

The beams of light cut through the neck and beheaded Minos. Its health bar whittled to zero before disappearing completely along with its body. Jayce and I landed safely beside each other, huffing heavily.

"Was that…?"

"A combo?" Jayce grinned at me. "Yeah…"

"You guys were awesome!" Megumi cheered.

"Eh, it was pretty cool." Daize pouted.

"You have to admit, it was impressive." Soran faintly smiled.

"Anyways, what did we get from it?" Jayce asked me.

I checked the reward menu and read out the items. "Just some gold and EXP."

"Shouldn't there be an item drop?" Daize asked.

"Yea-" I was interrupted by a loud humming. The circle in the center of the room had turned orange. From it, a similarly glowing orange diamond appeared.

"The Gaia Key!" Our Sorcerer shouted.

Smiling, I walked over to it but was stopped on the shoulder by Jayce.

"So..." He nervously laughed. "It's now a question of who gets the key."

"Me, obviously." I immediately replied. "I brought us here, therefore it's mine. You can get the next key we find."

"Really, Wairuzu? You're not even going to give credit to your team?"

I tried to ignore him and step away but found myself stuck to the ground. Looking down, I spotted glowing blue chains wrapped around my ankles. In fact, all of us were in the same situation. All of us except Jayce who's eyes were now glowing blue as well.

"You're as selfish as I thought you were."

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: Creator**


	13. Episode 13: Creator

**Episode 13: Creator**

 ***RING***

"Ugh..." I shifted my head which was resting on my already numb arms. The vibrations coming from my phone started bugging me more and more until I reluctantly lifted my head and rubbed my eyes. Slowly, I picked the device up and answered the call.

"Good morning, Albrecht-san." A man's voice. Light, yet assertive. A familiar voice as well.

"Oh, Nishikima. What's up?"

"I just wanted to inquire about the next update. The deadline is fast approaching, you know?"

I glanced below my arms and found my drawing tablet below them. In front of me was a screen with an unfinished panel for the next volume.

 _'I guess I fell asleep at my desk…'_

"Albrecht-san?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm working on it."

"We've given you an ample amount of time. The writer is expecting the final work in three days."

"I know, I know. Now stop nagging me, I want to enjoy my morning for once." Before he could utter another word, I ended the call and placed my phone back onto the table. Leaning back on my chair, I sighed. There was then a sudden knock on my door.

"Delivery for Dante Albrecht?"

Someone outside called my name. I exhaled and got up hesitantly. Stretching all of my limbs to their full extent, I opened the door. A lady in a brown uniform and cap enthusiastically greeted me with a cardboard box. She had the logo of RECT Incorporated on her as well.

"Dante Albrecht?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Your pre-order has arrived! As well as the results from your beta test." She was obviously energetic about her job. I received the box from her and found that it was lighter than I expected. "Just sign here, please!"

After all the paperwork, I thanked her and plopped the package onto the mat I had on the floor. My apartment unit was extremely small so I had to make sacrifices when it came to furniture. Opening the box, I pulled out what was probably my most expensive buy ever, second only to my rent. Tearing open the bubble wrap revealed the word 'AuraSphere'. Stuck to it was a sheet of paper with a list made up of the points I accumulated when testing the thing out during the beta phase. When this device was announced, I was thrilled. Of course, it was during my VR high when I couldn't get enough of the stuff. I'd use my old AmuSphere for hours and hours. Of course, I purchased both of them back when I actually had money. At least I wasn't alone in that regard.

"Hello?" I heard her voice from the other end of the call.

"Hey Ari-chan, I just got my AuraSphere. Did you get yours in the mail?"

"Oh! Lemme check!" I could hear her ruffling out of bed. It was obvious that she just woke up. Thinking about it made me chuckle a bit. "Holy crap! It is! We need to play right away!"

She was talking about the game that came with the pre-order. It was the launch title for the system: Aura Kingdom Online. She was so ecstatic about this, she signed up with me for the beta tests and everything.

"Never thought I'd go back to VR."

"Hey, this is an excellent way to spend time together since we live far away."

She was right. I was living in the province while she was in Tokyo, attending a prestigious University. Sometimes I wish I could be with her but unfortunately, I messed up that chance a long time ago.

"Hey, Dante-kun…?" Her voice got softer. "Just remember, I don't want you playing too much, okay?"

"Huh?" I paused before speaking. "I know, Ari-chan. I won't make that mistake again."

Never again.

"Okay. I've set a schedule when we can go online and when we should take breaks." Of course, leave it to her to do something so organized. "I'll go on ahead then. I love you."

I could listen to those words over and over again. "I love you too."

With the call ended, I opened the box and took out the device. "Huh? It's blue? How'd they know my favorite color?"

I presumed it was just a pre-order skin so I moved on. Placing the device on my ears, I laid down comfortably on my bed.

 _'What about the manga panels?'_ I quickly glanced at my computer which reminded me of the work I had yet to do. _'Eh, I can cram it overnight.'_

"Link start!"

* * *

The familiar virtual sun shone on my face as I breathed in the air. I found myself in some kind of port town. It was good to be back. I had made my avatar look similar to how I look in real life: a pony tail and a goatee, just with additional blue streaks since I've always thought about dying my hair. I didn't stray too far since I wanted Ari to be able to recognize me, after all. She was going to do the same with her avatar as well. For class, I chose the Ronin since I thought the sword was bad-ass, even if it was a challenging weapon to use. It was even similar to the sword used by the main character in the manga I was drawing. I wasn't writing the story, of course, but damn was it interesting. Everyone else had the same basic gear with random colors so it was hard to find Ari. All she mentioned was something green…

"Hey!" A girl with flowing green hair waved as she ran towards me. Behind her, a towering spiky haired guy was following. With a single leap, she managed to wrap her arms around my neck and hold me in a tight hug."I see you kept true to our conditions. I have to say, you look more handsome in VR!"

"And you look uglier." I joked and received a punch on the shoulder. "Anyway, who's he?"

"Oh!" She turned around and smiled at the player behind her. "I hope you don't mind if my little brother tags along. He got his AuraSphere in the mail as well."

"Akir-"

The tall dude cleared his throat. "I'd prefer it if we stuck to usernames."

"Oh he's right." Ari said. "Never know who's listening, after all!"

"Alright..." I swiped down for my profile. The controls we're similar, after all. "My name's Jayce."

"Arryn!"

"Did you literally put your first name and your last name together?" Arryntaro. Get it?

This made her flustered. "I couldn't think of any good names, okay?! Where'd you get Jayce anyway?"

"Just popped up in my head." It was actually the name of the main character I had mentioned before.

"I am Kage. Ravager class." The brute spoke up since no one asked. I laughed and tapped his arm since his shoulders were too high.

"Welcome aboard."

* * *

We spent the morning clearing some low level dungeons. The more we played, the better we got. It was around lunch time when we stumbled upon something that we never should have found.

"What's this portal?" Arryn tilted her head, curiously gazing at the red swirl. We had stumbled upon it while exploring the swamp area of Port Skandia. It was weird to find a portal so secluded from the rest of the map.

"Another dungeon?" Kage asked.

"All the other dungeons we've been to were blue. Why's this one red?" I wondered.

"Ooh! Maybe it's a secret boss!" Arryn immediately pulled my arm towards the portal. "Come on! Let's go!"

"Aren't you getting a bit eager?" I laughed. The three of us entered the dungeon with high heads… until the portal behind us disappeared.

"Huh? Where'd it go?" Arryn asked as she felt around the rocks.

"Guys, we've got company!" Kage immediately pulled his battle-axe out. In front of us, a couple of boulders shook and formed a giant golem with sunken red eyes. The health bar formed above it and displayed it's level.

"Level 100?!" Arryn wavered. "No way…"

The two of them froze as a large boulder was sent hurdling towards us. Instinctively, I dashed forward and held my arms up in a futile attempt to protect them. I was sure we were going to die. That was until I felt a surge of energy flowing through me and exit my body, forming a giant shield that shattered the rock. The shield itself was blue in color while what looked like blue flames were swirling around my body and illuminating my eyes.

 _'Create.'_ I heard someone say.

Without knowing how, I broke the shield and held my hand up. A giant sword formed in it as I brought it down on the monster. It grunted as the sword shattered part of its head and made it stumble back.

"Jayce!" Arryn came to me and held onto my shoulders as I heaved. Somehow, whatever this ability was, it was wearing me down. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah…" I knew I had to finish this as fast as I could. "Just leave it to me."

"Jayce!"

Running and screaming, I created a springboard below my feet which launched me into the air. I then proceeded to create multiple copies of my tachi and sent them flying towards the golem. It was doing enough damage but I still needed more.

 _'I need to use quality over quantity…'_ I thought.

With one charge as I plummeted towards the beast, I formed a giant great sword between my hands which was even bigger than before. With one swing, I brought it down on the golem and shattered it into a million pieces. The impact of the attack knocked me out as I landed hard on to the ground. Arryn ran up to me and held me in her arms. I started to feel better as the blue energy disappeared from my body.

"Jayce?! How are you holding up?"

"How the hell did you do that…?" Kage gawked at the now dissolving boss as a congratulatory screen popped up in front of us and knocked us up a couple of levels. Makes sense a boss like that would give us a ton of EXP.

"Who cares… we just defeated a level 100 boss!"

"Yeah..." As soon as my strength returned, I stood up with my legs wobbling. Swiping through the rewards, I realized that an item we had before had unlocked. "Hey, we can unlock the Launch Day Bonus item."

Selecting it brought me up five more levels. The two of them did the same as Arryn, in particular, jumped in joy.

"We're an even higher level now! It's all thanks to you, Jayce!" She hugged me as I hugged her back. "Keep this up and we might just become the strongest players in the game!"

"With that weird skill of yours, I'd say you're already strong enough…" Kage crossed his arms.

"Yeah but I still want you two to stand with me. Hey, I know! Let's seal it with a pledge!" I raised my arm out in a fist.

"What the hell Jayce?" The Ravager chuckled.

"Just humor me, please?"

The other two smiled and added to the triple fist bump. "This is a promise, the three of us will become the best players in Aura Kingdom Online!"

"And that we are and always will be a team of equals." Arryn said.

"That... that we won't give up on each other, no matter what." Kage added while apparently blushing. It was indeed a weird sight.

"Awww!" The green Duelist giggled.

"Don't embarrass me in game, big sis- I mean Arryn!"

I laughed as I finished up the pledge. "It's settled then, this shall be our quest!"

* * *

After we left the dungeon, we settled outside the portal as I explained the idea that had hatched in my mind. Studying the party system, I realized that the party leader received all the items dropped by the remaining party members should they die in high class dungeons.

"If we can stack those Launch Day potions, we can level up in no time!" I explained.

"So you're saying we throw a couple of newbies into the level 100 dungeon and collect their potions?" Kage asked.

"Yeah. That's also why we should split up. Each of us can form different parties to speed things up."

"Isn't that being a bit mean, Jayce?" Arryn asked with a concerned look on her face. "You're basically killing people indirectly."

"It's just a game, Arryn. They'll just respawn safely in the town."

"I know but…"

I held her shoulders and gazed into her emerald eyes. "I want us to have fun here, okay? If we're going to be the best players in the game, we have to level up faster than the rest, at any cost."

"I understand…"

"Now, we'll split and meet back in Port Skandia after five hours. Gather as many potions as you can."

And so our plan was set in motion. I patrolled the docks while the two of them searched elsewhere. While walking around the first forest area, I found a curious looking orange haired player getting knocked down by some bunnyhops. Laughing, I approached him.

"Don't let a bunch of rabbits kick your ass!"

* * *

Ever since I met you, I was intrigued. I felt a connection between us so that's why I kept trying to reach you. Again and again, I tried to be nice. I tried to form a friendship with you. At the beginning, I disliked this game because of all the flaws it had but even then, you were the one who helped me learn to love it. You were the one who helped me give this game a second chance. I understand that you lost your trust in other people when Arryn took you to that dungeon but even if I tried to rekindle that trust, you didn't want that. Why? Why do you have to be so selfish?!

"Jayce!" Wairuzu struggled to break free from the chains I bound him in as I accessed my menu and selected the leave party option.

"Thanks for leading me to this Gaia Key, Wairuzu. Those ghost quests really come in handy. Apparently, my key is located in Blizzard Berg." I swiped through my quest log and showed him a similar quest which told me to venture to said area. It was written in a bright blue text. I had received it at the same time Wairuzu received his. I didn't know what it was at first but thanks to the orange Ronin, I now knew it would lead me to a Gaia Key. "It's only a matter of time before I get all of them. It turns out I'm the only one who can save this game, after all."

"You're insane! You can't keep everyone else from becoming admins! It's supposed to be a council of eight not one!"

"Don't worry, Arryn and Kage will be by my side. Even if they won't receive administrative control, they will still be there to help me govern this world. At first, I thought you were capable of that responsibility as well but then you proved to me again and again that you only care about yourself!" My blue eyes glared at him in anger. "You always want the last hit, you always want to be the leader, you always want the best items because you think you're so important!"

"That's not true! I…"

"Arryn…" I glanced at the Sorcerer who muttered Ari's username. "Arryn wouldn't agree to this!"

"And what makes you so sure she wouldn't?"

"I see it in her face! I see that it hurts her whenever she hurts other people. The way I see it, you forced her to go with your plans!"

"I did not force her!" Pausing, I exhaled. That was close, I almost completely lost my temper. "She agreed willingly. You don't even know her like I do. She knows I'm doing this for her."

Finally finished, I walked towards the Gaia Key. "That's enough. It's time for me to leave."

"I won't let you!" Wairuzu's eyes started glowing orange again. I knew it was only a matter of time before he broke free so I hurried to the key and grabbed it as fast as I could. However, I had no time to get away. Almost instantly, the orange Ronin slammed into me and knocked me back. Rising up, I found him covered in orange flames with his tachi held out.

"So you want to fight, huh?"

"You're not getting out of here with that key!"

"So be it…"

Raising my hand, I created a dozen throwing knives and chucked them at him one by one. In reaction, he swung his sword from left to right and deflected each blade. With a downward swing, he brought it onto me. I blocked by creating a shield and countered with a pistol blast. Wairuzu grunted as he stumbled back. He immediately charged up his sword again and began slashing at me. I dodged and weaved as much as I could, creating shields to block any attacks I could not avoid. I knew I had to reserve my energy unlike that raging idiot. With one swift motion, I made a hook that parried his sword to the ground and with my other hand, a blade which sliced him across the neck. He stepped back, holding the affected area. His health bar was already that low? Sometimes, I couldn't gauge how much damage I was dealing with the weapons I created.

"Wairuzu!" Megumi opened her tome and prepared to heal.

"Oh no you don't!" I extended the chains which bound her to her arms, keeping them from moving.

"Don't touch her!" Wairuzu came at me once more with a familiar skill. "Crescent slice!"

A cloud of dust surrounded us as the attack hit. I safely jumped out of the way and landed behind him. Quickly, I snatched his sword with a chain coming from my hand and drove it through his stomach.

"You want to know why you can't beat me?" I whispered in his ear. "You're too angry. You use up too much energy in your attacks. Without learning how to properly wield this gift, you'll never beat me."

Releasing his body, I watched as he slumped onto the ground with just a single health bar. I decided to leave him like this since I still had a shred of respect.

"What can I say? You really put up a fight. Maybe I'll give you one last chance to join me."

"Go to hell…" He groaned on his knees, holding his abdomen.

"Alright then, if you'll excuse me, I need to get to the next Gaia Key." Preparing a Teleport Crystal made in our forge, I bid the members of the nameless guild farewell. "Goodbye."

* * *

"Hang in there!" Megumi stood over me as I pulled my sword out from my body. What a humiliating defeat.

"We need to go after him!" Daize said. "Where did he say he was going? Blizzard Berg?"

"And what?" Soran nervously shuffled his feet. "You saw what he could do. Fighting him in this state will only get us killed."

"Well, we have to do something!"

Jayce's chains had shattered after he teleported out of the temple with the orange Gaia Key. We would have gone after him immediately if I wasn't so injured. Cursing under my breath, I stood up and sheathed my blade.

"Wairuzu?" Megumi had a sad tone in her voice.

"He's right…" I clenched my hands into fists. "He's right about me. Nothing's changed… noth-"

To my surprise, Daize smacked me across the face which was a first. "That… that's for all the chops you've given me!"

"What?"

"That was also for doubting yourself." The Archer had a stern look on his face. "If you start kicking yourself while you're down, you'll never stand back up."

"Daize…"

"Yeah." Soran agreed. "You said it yourself anyway, what Jayce described was not true. I choose to believe that he is wrong as well. I know you're a good person, Wairuzu."

"Why…?"

Daize smiled but this time, I wasn't annoyed. "You think I'd take his word over yours? Not in a million years, dude. If we don't believe him, you shouldn't either."

"Wairuzu." Megumi walked up to me. "I'm only here because of you. Thank you so much."

What the hell? How could they say all those things? I couldn't help but smile. They chose to believe in a version of me I had yet to become, a version of me I wanted to become. At least I had my work cut out for me.

"What's the game plan then?"

* * *

All of the heads in the hall turned as I entered. Arryn, in particular, was looking a bit worried.

"Jayce? Where's Megumi and the others?"

"They found out. I had no choice, Wairuzu was going to take the key for himself."

She gasped. "You mean they found out about…"

"Yes. Now, we need to retrieve the rest of the keys before they become a pain in the ass. Where's Kage?" I swiped through the data I received from multiple players around the server.

"He's gone to sleep. It's getting late."

"We'll have to go ourselves then. The next key's in Blizzard Berg. We can leave immediately."

"Jayce, have you been following my break schedule?" Arryn tapped my shoulder.

"Of course I have! Now can we concentrate? If we don't move fast, the Gaia Keys will fall into the wrong hands!"

"Jayce, answer me. How long have you been online?" She insisted. "You say you're taking breaks but are you? It seems that everytime Kage and I log in, you're already there."

"I'm taking breaks alright?!" I swiped her hand off my shoulder and sighed. "We just need to hurry and get all eight keys before anyone else does."

"Why do we need all eight? Don't we just need one?"

"Because I don't trust anyone other than me to run this game." I realized the tone of my voice was a bit off and decided to calm down. "Arryn, I'm doing this for us. I can make this place a paradise where we can have all the fun we want. Once we achieve that goal, we can relax."

"Very well…" She looked down. "But I'm still worried about you, Jayce. You know what happened last-"

"Last time. Yes, I know. I told you, it won't happen again. I just need to…" I was interrupted by a sudden hug from her.

"Jayce, please. Take a break. For me." She pulled me in closer. "We can send Richter's squad to Blizzard Berg."

I paused before wrapping my arms around her. "Okay…"

* * *

"New bow, baby!" Daize held up a reinforced sandstone bow he found in one of the chests lying around the Minotaur chamber. There were four so we each decided to pick one.

"Ooh! Magic amulets!" Megumi peered at the contents of her chest. "Soran, what did you get?"

"Just some potions…" He nervously laughed. "Wairuzu, how about you?"

I silently gazed at the item on my screen before putting it on. It was a Ravager class armor but luckily, there was no such thing as exclusive armor sets in this game. With one swipe, dark shoulder pads and gauntlets that were spiked with red outlining each of them appeared along with the rest of the armor pieces. The chest had a red pattern to it while the collar of the inner shirt was the same shade of orange as my hair. The trousers were black while the boots had this red flame motif to it. A belt of cloth was wrapped around my waist which was a similar color to the scarf from my last armor set. Standing proud, I turned to the others.

"Right. Let's get to Blizzard Berg."

* * *

 **Ending: Yume Sekai by** **Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **Next Episode: A Cold Reunion**


	14. Episode 14: A Cold Reunion

**Episode 14: A Cold Reunion**

"Dante, open the door!" I heard a few knocks coming from outside. A woman's voice.

 _Shut up..._

"Dante, open the door this instant!" The knocking got louder as it turned into banging. "Dante!"

 ** _SHUT UP!_**

"Dante? Are you even here?" The voice suddenly turned into that of a high pitched boy's. My eyes blinked as I realized I had fallen asleep with my AuraSphere right beside me. Groaning, I headed towards the entrance. Another round of knocks occurred before I unlocked the door and found a short kid with neatly combed hair standing in front of me wearing a black and white school uniform. In his right hand was a plastic bag with freshly bought items from the nearest convenience store.

"Akira-kun? Didn't your parent teach you to respect your superiors?" I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and smiled.

The kid laughed. "Like you deserve that kind of treatment."

"Come in, make yourself at home. If you can…"

He stepped into my cramped apartment and sat on the bed. Glancing at the AuraSphere I had left lying, he snatched it and examined it closely.

"Why's yours blue? I don't remember hearing about any special colors."

Crashing into my computer chair, I leaned as far back as I could. "I don't know. Must mean I'm special."

Akira just smirked. "Yeah, right."

"Anyway, why brings you to my fortress, Kage the Dark Ravager?" Grinning, I teased him.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me that in real life." His squeaky voice was a big contrast to the deep one he had in AKO. "And for your information, big sister was worried about you. She asked me to check in on you on my way back from summer class."

"Summer class?" I whistled. "How do you Rintaros work so much?"

"The work will pay off when I get into a good high school. I'm not planning on dropping out like you did."

Ouch. Below the belt much? "You don't need to bring that up."

"I actually think I do. She's worried you've gotten too attached to VR again."

"Hey, I'm taking breaks just like she wanted me too."

"Oh yeah? Then what's that?" He pointed at my computer screen which still had the unfinished panel displayed.

"It's uh… not due till next week!" I immediately spun around and minimized the drawing application.

"Liar." He pouted.

"Can I ask what's in the bag?" I gave him my best smile.

Akira ruffled through the items in the plastic bag and pulled out a sealed Curry bun as well as a bottle of cold Oolong tea. "Big sister mentioned you like to skip meals."

"Hehe… thanks." I gladly accepted the food and drink as the kid pulled out a chocolate bar and a can of soda for himself. "This is kind of nostalgic actually. The last time we saw each other was when…"

"Big sister left."

"You miss her, don't you?" I smirked as a shade of red fell over his face.

"Not as much as you, I assume. You guys are so lovey dovey, it makes me sick." He took a sip of soda.

"It's mostly her fault though." Laughing, I took a bite out of the Curry bun. It had a nice flavor to it.

"Hey, Dante?"

"Dante-san"

"No." He said with a straight face. "Can you really run AKO all by yourself?"

The smile on my face disappeared as soon as I head that question.

"Big sister told me everything you said. You want to stop other people from becoming admins?"

"I'm... I'm the only one who can do this." I took sip of the tea and gulped it down my throat. "Besides, it's not like I'll be completely alone. I have you and Ari-chan to back me up. I may be the one with power but the game belongs to us."

I really meant those words. This game was too broken to be our perfect world. Someone had to do something.

"I was given a special gift, Akira. No one else has power like that so that must mean I was destined to be something greater."

"No one except Wairuzu." I hated hearing that name now.

"Wairuzu's a lost cause. We need to shift our focus on the game." I finished my bun with a few more bites and chugged the whole bottle of tea. Exhaling, I threw both of them into my already overflowing trash can. "Speaking of which, I think my break's over. Hurry on home so you can join us."

"Dante…" He sighed. "You're not changing your mind, are you?"

"Nope." I took my AuraSphere from the kid and put it on. "After all, it is the role of a Creator to make order out of chaos."

* * *

 **Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

The cold winds hit us like a wall as we slowly made our way up a snowy mountain. Despite the shield spells Megumi cast, the gales never ceased to push against us. It was a lot colder than we were used to but it wasn't cold enough to stop us in our tracks. Although, I had to admit, Blizzard Berg really lived up to its name.

"This snow is hard to walk in…" Megumi lifted her foot up and shook the snow from her boots.

"D-do you want me to carry you...?" Soran sheepishly asked. I didn't know if it was the cold making him stutter or if it was just him.

"I'm fine. Thanks for the offer though." The adorable Sorcerer smiled and waved. She took that surprisingly well.

"Daize." Our valiant party leader called my beautiful name. "Did you contact the others already?"

"M and Orha said they're busy investigating a dungeon." Wairuzu clearly made a distressed face hearing that name. Those two weren't on the best terms to nowadays. It's a miracle I even got M to keep playing with us in the first place.

"Wait!" I stopped us from progressing since I was at the front as always. "Wairuzu, where are we even going?"

"To the dungeon…?" He wasn't sure where it was, was he?

"Yeah but which dungeon? Each map has more than a dozen obviously."

"The top one of course. It should be on the top of the mountain."

"Should be? Are you even certain it exists?" I tilted my head.

"Well… it makes sense for a Gaia Key to be on top of the mountain, doesn't it?" The Ronin crossed his arms.

"So you're saying we scaled this mountain on a hunch?"

"Yes…?"

All of a sudden, a bright blue light shot out from the snowy valley below us. It was coming from an area with a lot of holes. These holes were what I would assume to be caves.

"Oh, well would you look at that." I chuckled.

"Shut up Daize."

* * *

Our footsteps echoed as we entered the caverns. According to the map data we were given, this place was like a maze. We had run into some low level monsters so far but thankfully they weren't a problem for us. As we walked, I noticed that the walls were completely covered in ice while the floor was stone which was surprisingly not that slippery. As we moved forward, we were met with a fork in the road.

"Richter?" Taito came up to me with his pistols in hand. "Which way do we go, man?"

Scratching my chin, I called out to our Archer. "Rai, take a look, will you?"

Tugging at the cloth covering his mouth, he pulled it down and sniffed the air. For some reason, he chose to level up his tracking skill but that also meant he was also a very accurate scout.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!" A woman's scream resonated from the right path as Rai pulled his mask back up and pointed at said direction.

"Okay Rangers, move out!" Our party hurried down the right corridor which seemed to be getting narrower as we progressed. The ice on the walls became thicker each step we took as we felt a chill crawl down our spines.

Finally, we made it out into a large ballroom like area where a girl with two giant shurikens was on the ground while a guy with a familiar looking great sword was defending her from what looked like a giant albino snake. White mist was coming from the snake's mouth as it let out a beam of ice that knocked the swordsman into the wall. Before the beast could lunge at his partner, I dashed in between and blocked it's fangs.

"Jean, heal them both! Everyone else, on me!" Parrying the beast, I slashed at its eye as it staggered back. Rai and Taito began firing at it to get its attention. Thankfully, it worked. The snake slithered towards the two but was stopped in its tracks by Chuu who had stabbed it in the head from above.

* * *

I placed the Shinobi class player beside the Crusader and began my healing spell. With my harp, healing was a cinch, however, I had to sacrifice my offensive side for that. That was always okay with me since I wasn't that much of a fighter.

"Who… who are you guys?" The boy spoke up.

"We're part of the Cobalt Rangers. Everything's going to be okay now." I grinned.

"That guild? You're not player killers?" The Shinobi girl asked.

"Only on PVP maps." Standing up, I brushed my hands together. "Okay, all healed. Now if you'll excuse me…"

I spied the rest of the party engaging the giant snake. Some of their healths were getting low. It was a good thing I was here.

* * *

"This was a bad idea!" I screamed as I held onto my shield.

"This was an amazing idea!" Megumi, who was in front of me, laughed and pressed against my body as we sled down the mountain. Thanks to my feminine figure, we both managed to fit on the shield but that also meant we were hurdling towards the cave at an alarming speed.

"Woohoo!" Daize and Wairuzu followed behind us, sliding down the slope while using their weapons to steer their bodies.

"You guys look ridiculous!" The Sorcerer laughed as they exerted as much effort as they could to prevent themselves from toppling over.

"Megumi, don't turn around too much!" Blushing, I struggled to balance our weight on the shield. Her hair blew into my face as I swiped it away. It actually smelled pretty good. This is probably the closest I've been to a girl. Shaking my head, I brushed off any thoughts that came to mind.

"Soran?! I think the caves are coming up! Can we slow down?!" She shouted.

"Um!" Thinking fast, I unsheathed my sword and dug it into the snow. The good news was that it definitely stopped our descent. The bad, the force toppled us over and sent us rolling down the slope.

"Hey! Watch-" Daize collided into me which created a chain reaction that toppled Wairuzu as well. Our entire party snowballed towards the cave entrance where we managed to land. The ice hit hard as I opened my eyes to the sight of Daize who was on top of me.

He grinned as he stared into my eyes. "If only you were an actual girl..."

Sitting up, we glanced towards the other two who were in the same situation as us, the Sorcerer's face inches away from the Ronin's. Daize and I glanced at each other then looked back at them before they burst out in laughter to our surprise.

"Y-you're covered in snow!" Megumi shouted.

"Me?! What about you? There's no trace of purple left in your hair!" Wairuzu laughed.

"My hair!" She frantically combed the snow out of her hair with her hands which made the Ronin laugh harder.

"He's having fun again." Daize smiled.

"Yeah."

* * *

"Just a little bit more, guys!" Swinging my Holy Sword up, I slashed the snake through its neck. Chuu followed up by throwing a power thrust from the right. Two shurikens came crashing from the sides as the Shinobi leaped into the air and retrieved them, landing elegantly on the ground. Her partner swung his sword at the beast as well, dealing a large amount of damage with a single charged hit. All the while, Taito and Rai were providing buffs and debuffs while jean consistently kept our healths up.

"Hey, you got Smiter's Edge on that thing?" I asked as the other swordsman stood beside me.

"Are you kidding? Of course I do!"

"Right! On the count of three!"

 _One._

Our swords charged up with holy light as we raised them in the air.

 _Two._

Chuu strafed throughout the snake's body, dodging any ice attacks it threw at him. Meanwhile, Jean casted a binding spell as soon as the beast crossed into our range. It roared as it struggled to get out of the spell.

 _Three!_

"Smiter's Edge!" With a gleam, the two of us brought our swords down and sent a huge amount of light energy crashing into the snake. It immediately faded away after the impact as we took a minute to breath.

"Thank you..." The swordsman turned to me. "If it wasn't for you and your party, we would've ended up back in town."

"Anything for a fellow Crusader." I saluted. "You two alone? This is a dangerous dungeon for just a duo party."

"We were hunting Gaia Keys. This is actually the tenth dungeon we've been trying to clear." The Shinobi said.

"Gaia Keys? You two are in a guild then?"

"No..." The Crusader laughed nervously as he scratched his head.

"No?" Chuu leaned on his lance.

"We thought about that joining your guild at first, actually. But we also thought that if we did that then we wouldn't stand out from the rest of you." The Shinobi girl was twiddling her fingers. "So we decided to make our own guild after we retrieve a Gaia Key. After all, we would be popular if our leader was one of the admins of AKO!"

"That's certainly a possibility." Jean chuckled.

Holding onto the hilt of the sword on my back, I pretended I was just scratching my head. Arryn sent specific instructions saying that we had to get the Gaia Key no matter what.

"So, I'm ashamed to ask this but can you guys help us clear this dungeon?" The boy pleaded.

Letting go of my weapon, I smiled. A little help could make things easier. I'll just have to find a way to swipe away the Gaia Key at the end. "Sure thing. Let-"

I felt a hand grab onto my shoulder. Turning around, I found Rai holding onto me with a finger over his mouth. He then pointed it towards the direction of the corridor we came from.

"It's him, isn't it?"

* * *

"We should've taken the left one." Wairuzu said.

"No, I'm certain we took the right one." Daize chuckled. "Get it? RIGHT?"

A chop hit the Archer on the neck as the Ronin reeled back from his attack which made me smirk. I held my tome tightly as we made our way down the corridor, watching the ice get thicker and thicker on the walls.

"So, what happens when we get a Gaia Key?" I asked.

"We wait for the event. Once the tower raid begins at the end of the month, we clear all the floors." Wairuzu answered.

"Right. End of the month, huh…" Oh crap! Isn't that when I'm moving? I completely forgot about it again. Talk about bad timing. "D-did they specify a date?"

"I don't think they did." Daize scratched his chin. "The old man just said end of the summer. We can check the forums after logging out though."

"Speaking of which, we should probably meet up before then. In real life I mean!" Soran ecstatically said. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah it has. What do you say to that, Wairuzu?" The Archer put his arm around the Ronin's shoulder which made him a bit uncomfortable.

"Do whatever you want…" He looked away, pouting.

Silently smiling, Daize glanced at me. "Of course, you're welcome to join, Megumi. If you ever decide to share such information with us."

"Maybe…" Although I had my insecurities about revealing real life info, this was something I was seriously considering. When our walk ended, we were met with an extravagant room covered in ice. At the center, a single person stood with a Holy Sword on his back.

"Well, Jayce was right." The figure turned around. "You are stubborn."

"You…" Wairuzu pulled out his tachi.

"I'm guessing you saw the light too. That's an annoying system, to be honest. Just makes every dungeon one big PVP area."

"Jayce sent you to get the key? I thought he wanted to do this himself?"

"Jayce… Jayce is a busy man. Trust me, I'm more than capable of retrieving the key by myself."

"The hell you are, Richter!" I stepped forward with a determined look. "Where's the rest of your team? I know you never leave without them."

"Megumi... To think you'd side with him. You'll break Jean's heart." He gave me a pitiful smile.

"Wait, you know these guys?" The Ronin turned to me.

"I may have run into them when I visited Jayce's Guild..."

Richter chuckled. "I guess there's no hiding now."

In a second, the remaining members of the Cobalt Rangers' elite squad jumped down from nearby ledges along with two more players who I didn't recognize.

"You're outnumbered. Better get out of here while you can. Unless of course, Wairuzu would like to show these two what a true demon looks like."

"I'm not a demon…" He gritted his teeth.

"We'll see about that!" The Shinobi threw her shurikens at us only to be deflected by Wairuzu's sword. The blades flew back into her hands as the Ronin charged forward.

 _'Wait. Why aren't they moving?'_ I noticed that they hadn't moved an inch from where they were standing.

"Wairuzu wait!" My hand reached out to him as he turned around and met my gaze. In an instant, he disappeared in a white flash.

"I can't believe that worked!" Richter laughed. "Jean, Taito, keep our new friends safe. Chuu, you're with Rai."

The Archer and Lancer nodded like they knew what their roles were before Richter even spoke and proceeded down the corridor at the back of the room. The enemy leader then proceeded to step into another teleport glyph on the ground. He was gone in a flash.

"Right. You're not going any further!" The Crusader class raised his Holy Sword.

* * *

I grunted as my body hit the snow and rolled back. Lifting my arms up I found the man Megumi called Richter walking towards me.

"It's a good thing we had Jean set some teleport glyphs outside the cave. We were going to use them for a quick escape but this will suffice."

"Do you even know that Jayce plans to keep the admin powers to himself?!" I shouted, standing back up. "You're wasting your time if you think you can have power when he's in reign!"

"He's not keeping it to himself. He's keeping it for the guild." He said. "He'll rule with us by his side."

"Do you really believe that?" I smirked.

"We have faith in him that he'll do what's necessary to save this game." He pulled out his sword and pointed it at me. "Can you say you're capable of the same? That you're worthy to rule the land?"

"No. No I can't. But I do know one thing…" Holding my tachi with both hands, I activated Enhance. "…there's no way in hell I'm letting Jayce keep all the keys."

* * *

Somersaulting across the room, I dodged between the flying shurikens that zoomed past us. Pulling back on my bow, I released an arrow that knocked the Shinobi back. She fell right into the Bard's healing circle which started to raise her HP up. Soran, on the other hand, was busy dealing with the attacks the Crusader was pulling on us while Megumi returned fire with her light bolts. The Gunslinger and Bard sent more projectiles headed our way. Leaping into the air, I targeted them and fired a flurry of arrows. Each met with the blast and collided, leaving a bright explosion. Getting caught off guard, the Shinobi closed the distance between us and slashed at my back. Staggering to the side, I ran towards our healer who responded with a glow of green healing energy.

"We can end this peacefully guys!" The Bard halted the strumming of his harp as the rest of us took a moment to breath. "Megumi, I thought you were going to join us! Why did it turn out like this?!"

"Jean, I'm not joining your guild. I'm sorry." She replied.

"Yeah, dude. Back off!" I readied another arrow and pointed it straight at him.

His eyes quicky turned into a look of anger. "Wairuzu has brainwashed you! He just wants all the power for himself! Can't you see that?!"

"You should look in a mirror." Firing my arrow, I managed to breach the shield around the Bard. The magic shattered as I yelled out. "Soran! Go!"

With his dash skill, our valiant Knight rammed into the Crusader and knocked him out of the way. He then raised his sword and screamed as he slashed the Bard diagonally. The latter fell to the ground with a thud. His eyes were teary not from the fear he felt but from the anger.

"That's what you guys do, don't you? Pick on the weakest?" He said before Soran was hit by a blast from the Crusader's sword.

Stepping back, he raised his shield and gritted his teeth. "No… that's not who we are!"

* * *

My sword barely hit Richter as he ducked in between the swings. No matter how much I swung, all he did was either dodge or party with his Holy Sword. Spinning behind me, he dealt a strong kick to my back which made me stagger.

"Don't you think I've learned since our last fight? I know how your overpowered skill works."

Breathing heavily, I sighed. "Then why call me a demon then? Doesn't Jayce have a similarly overpowered skill?"

"You see, Jayce actually uses his ability to help others. You, on the other hand, only use it for yourself. That's what differentiates him from a demon like you!"

Bringing his sword down, I caught it in the middle of my tachi and threw it back. With a single slice, I managed to hurt him quite a bit. Richter grunted at the damage he received before going back into the fight.

* * *

Trying my best to parry the slashes the Crusader was throwing, I was forced back into a corner. My shield blocked most of the attacks but I was still receiving most of the damage from the Gunslinger as well. In the corner of my eye, I spotted Megumi and Daize facing off against the Shinobi and Bard players. I knew we wouldn't be able to last long like this. With all my strength, I raised my sword and furiously slashed at the Crusader, sending shock-waves that interrupted the Gunslinger momentarily. Using the window I had created, I rushed towards my team with my shield raised. Blocking the attacks from the Shinobi, I dashed towards the her and managed to land a kick to her stomach. The force of my attack knocked her into the Bard.

"We need to retreat!" I told them sternly.

"Ha?!" Daize gasped. "But what about the key?!"

"He's right." Megumi agreed. "We're outnumbered without Wairuzu. We have no choice."

"Soran, we can't just run away!" The Archer glared into my eyes.

"We can't just die meaninglessly either!" Standing my ground, I sheathed my weapons. "I won't say this again. Retreat!"

Running back down the hall, the Sorcerer followed me while Daize cursed under his breath.

"Damn it!"

* * *

"How long can you keep this up, swordsman?" Richter laughed as he continued his strategy of dodging every attack I threw at him. After a couple of minutes, my head started to get heavy.

 _'You use up too much energy in your attacks. Without learning how to properly wield this gift, you'll never beat me.'_ Jayce's words echoed in my head. He was right. I had no idea how to control the energy I was outputting like he did. In that moment, I decided to deactivate the skill. I knew using it right now was too much of a risk.

"Oh? Giving up already?" Richter laughed before charging towards me. Little did he know that that was all I need him to do. Stepping to the side, his sword crashed down onto the ground. This allowed me to leap over him and drive my tachi across his body.

"I am never giving up!" I said. He threw another set of swings at me while I defended with my sword. Our roles switched as I parried each attack he threw at me. Shifting to the side, I landed my blade on his hilt and drove it into the ground. Immediately, I raised my fist and punched him square in the face. The recoil hurt my hand a little bit but it was worth seeing him flop on the ground. However, I didn't expect him to be giggling silently.

"What's so funny?!" I took a step closer to him.

"You're already too late, Wairuzu."

Glancing behind me, I noticed that the bright blue beacon over the cave had collapsed into itself. _'Wait, the other two Rangers!'_

"Two down. Six more to go."

* * *

 **Ending: Shirushi by LiSA**

* * *

 **Next Episode: A Change of Fate**


	15. Episode 15: A Change of Fate

**Episode 15: A Change of Fate**

The walls of the dungeon were dark and damp with water even leaking from the ceiling. I held on to my scythe while scanning the dark surroundings. It felt like anything could jump on us at any second.

"Yo Orha, you don't happen to have a lamp spell, do you?" I asked my partner.

"I'm a Wizard not a flashlight." He deadpanned. "Besides, I don't have any illumination spells that won't cause some sort of explosion that will kill us."

Pouting, I adjusted my prized cap and pushed forward. In the corner of my eye, I spied a glint of light that shined from a treasure chest. With a loud 'ooh', I happily skipped over and opened it. A loud ding sounded as I rustled through the menu to collect my items.

"You need to be more careful, M. What if it was a trap?" The Wizard scolded.

"But it wasn't. Ooh, an attack bracer!" I equipped a pair of dark chain bracers which matched the look and feel of my armor. The only reason I chose mostly dark colors was not because I was a Reaper class or anything but because I wanted my Dagon hat to stand out from the rest of my clothes.

"May I ask why we're here again? Do you really hate Wairuzu that much?"

"I-" Calmly, I collected my thoughts. I always tried to be funny and all but when I get angry, I really get angry. I still thought that incident back then in high school was stupid. Why the hell would Daize still try to keep Hiro in our circle of friends after everything he had done? "I just need to cool off."

"It's been more than a day already." He replied immediately. Orha was the kind of person to always keep track of mundane things like time.

"I know… I just don't like the thought of a person like him playing all of us like puppets."

"Understandable." The Wizard said. "What's not understandable is why you picked this dungeon out of all the others we could have gone to."

"Don't tell me you're getting bored." Brushing off my bracers, I raised an eyebrow.

"We have gone through this dungeon five times already." He narrowed his eyebrows.

"Hey man, it's my favorite dungeon. It even has a hot siren boss at the end." I chuckled. "Anyways, I checked the AKO forums again and saw a thread about the Gaia Keys. Apparently one was already found in the Star Sand Desert."

"I'm guessing Wairuzu and the others succeeded then."

"Perhaps." For the time being, I didn't want to hear that name at all.

"So how did that take us back to Dagon Lake?" That wasn't its official name but we decided to call it that because of our unique experience there.

"There were also reports of dungeons changing completely with new bosses and such. I assume it was triggered by the event. Maybe we'll even get a hotter mermaid to fight this time, huh?" The Wizard sighed in frustration to my amusement. Moving closer to the end of the dark corridor, I halted underneath a small archway and turned around.

"Hey, what's up, slowpoke?" I asked Orha who looked a bit more disturbed than usual.

"I sense a dark force within that tunnel..." He spoke ominously.

Replying with a smirk, I waved my hand. "You sure it's not just your stomach growling?"

Moving down the hallway, the air felt chillier than usual. There was a certain feeling of dread that I'm sure Orha had noticed. Reaching the end, the usual pond of water where the Siren would pop out of was still at the center of a hexagonal room with a single beam of light falling from the ceiling. For some reason, there was now a dark cloud drifting through the floor and biting at our ankles.

 **"Mortals…"** A female voice came from underneath the water.

"What'd I tell you? Mermai-"

A dark shadow rise up from the pond and landed with a splash. Orha and I flinched as cold water splashed onto us. Blinking, I gazed at the sight before me. A dark feminine figure stood up high with long claws on each of her fingers. Her skin was similar to those of a dark elf while her eyes were purely white. Shadows surrounded her figure, barely covering most of her body.

 **"YOU WILL PERISH IN THE NAME OF THE DARK LORD!"**

"Well…" I blushed. "That's new."

* * *

 **Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

It took less than a second for her to lunge at us. Jumping to the side, we landed in the shallow water. Her health bar appeared before us as we readied our weapons.

"Kali, an elite class of warriors that serve the Dark Lord. Represents death and-"

"I don't think we need a history lesson right now, Orha!"

"Just shedding some light on the lore." He pouted as I ran up to the boss and swung my scythe down on her. She caught the blade with her nails and retaliated. Stepping back, I parried each attack she threw, sparks igniting at every hit.

"Gaia's Bolt!" Orha shot out a bolt of light which hit Kali on the chest, making her scream. I used this chance to slip in between her legs and slash at her ankles.

"And it was super effective!" I shouted.

"Light beats darkness after all." Raising his staff, he surrounded himself in multiple shards of light which spun around him rapidly. "Can you hold her still?"

"Sure thing!" Spinning my scythe, I opened the gate to hell once more and released a flurry of bats which flew at her. Kali raised her hand and swiped at the swarm, slowly making her way towards us.

Before she could get any closer, however, I slammed the end of my scythe into the ground. "Shadow Hold!"

My shadow crawled all the way towards her and held her feet in place. She grunted as she attempted to move.

 **"YOU DARE USE THE DARKNESS AGAINST ME?!"**

"Hey if it works, it works." I grinned as Orha let loose his barrage of light that struck Kali multiple times across her body, lowering her health significantly. As the attack went on, I felt a sudden tug on my feet. "Wha-"

In an instant, the shadow below me pulled me down and flung across the room. I flinched as I landed hard on the wall and dropped onto the wet ground.

"What the hell?" Looking up, I saw my shadow in Kali's deadly hands.

"I think she can use shadow skills too!" Orha yelled from the opposite side.

"Yeah! I think I got that!" Seems as though I was barred from using shadow type skills. It's a shame I never specialized on any other types. I've spent most of the time fishing, after all.

 **"DIE!"** Raising my scythe, I expected her to attack but to my surprise; she turned right around and slashed at Orha. He attempted to block but was ultimately knocked down since he wasn't a very defensive player.

"Good grief…" I pushed my self off the ground with my scythe and lunged at Kali. Quickly, I switched my weapon to something I had more experience with. One swing was all it took to surround her in a fishing line stronger than any I have used before. She struggled to break free as I laughed. "Go ahead and try! That's the toughest line I got! …and the most expensive."

On cue, Orha got back up and charged a large bolt of light. He pointed his staff at Kali who was still struggling to get out of her binds. It took a few seconds for him to release the charge. "Gaia's Wrath!"

A large beam of light shot through her head, cleanly wiping it off. Her limp body fell to the ground as it disintegrated into black shards. The congratulatory screen appeared in front of us as we collected our rewards.

"I can't believe you literally wrapped a fishing line around her…" Orha spoke while sifting through his items.

"I told you. If it works, it works." As I held my cap with pride, my eyes caught a faint glimmer coming from the center of the pool. Maybe Kali dropped something else? Wading over to the center, which had water up to my ankle, I reached down and held out a circular relic with eight colors: red, blue, green, yellow, purple, black, white, and orange which, in particular, was already lit up. All of these colors surround the circle like slices of pizza.

"M?"

"I think I'm hungry."

"What?"

"Nothing. Look at this." I held it in my hands and showed it to the Wizard. All of a sudden, a notification popped up in front of me.

"Who is it?" Orha asked me.

"Daize... _'No time to explain. Meet us in Blizzard Berg.'_ That's what it says." As I spoke, a stone passage to our right slid into the ground, letting out a deep groan. This was definitely not here before. "The dungeon goes on?"

"So, what are we doing?"

"I think I want to check this place out a bit more." Quickly, I typed my reply.

 ** _Mnbbvb: 'Sorry, Daize. We're busy checking out a dungeon. I'm sure you can handle this on your own just fine, especially with Wairuzu.'_**

* * *

I was breathing heavily until the final attack. It wasn't easy to take down a boss as strong as an Ice Golem but me and Raikou managed just fine. Spinning my lance, I sheathed it on my back. The boss room itself was glittering with shiny crystals and ice but it wasn't hard to identify the pedestal at the center of the room which was now glowing blue.

"Let's not waste any more time, Rai." We rushed to the pedestal as a glowing blue diamond appeared. Holding it in my hands, its glow was beautiful. This was the key Jayce needed in order to correct this world. I will be the one to give it to him.

* * *

"Wairuzu!" Soran came running out of the caves along with Megumi and Daize. "We need to get out of here."

"You guys were supposed to get the Gaia Key!" I turned around.

"Well, sorry we couldn't really fight four on three!" Soran shouted which startled me quite a lot.

Before I spoke again, I paused. It's not their fault… remember that. "Fine, let's go."

"That's right. Run, you cowards!" Richter sat up and laughed. "You can't do anything to stop the perfect world!"

"Shut up!" With one last kick to the face, I joined the others and started running. Once we were sure we were far enough, we used the teleport crystals we had purchased beforehand to get back to town. It was time to rethink our plan.

* * *

"M." I called out. The Reaper in question was a few feet ahead of me, carelessly resting his scythe on his shoulder and whistling to the tune of some song I had never heard before. The whistling echoed throughout the large tunnel we were in while the sound of water droplets falling from the damp ceiling gave me an eerie feeling. "M!"

"Huh?" Instead of turning to me, he pulled out the circular artifact we had found. In addition to the orange, the blue light was now glowing as well.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I don't know. It just vibrated and then next thing I knew, the blue lit up."

"Curious…" I held the relic and brushed my fingers across all eight sections. Eight… "Gaia Keys!"

"Wha?"

"Eight Gaia Keys. Each a different color!" Glaring back at the dial, I touched the glowing parts. "These must represent the Gaia Keys that have been found. It's a counter, M! A counter that tells us how many Gaia Keys are left!"

"Well shit. If there are two lights then that means someone else got one of the Gaia Keys right?"

"I don't know but we need to finish this dungeon up and get back to the others." Brisk walking down the tunnel, we arrived at what looked like the interior of a church. Dark candles emitting a black flame were scattered around the area while an altar sat in the middle with a few rose petals, gems… and a generous serving of blood.

"Yikes. Someone has a kink." The Reaper spun around, examining the room.

I slowly made my way towards the altar and touched the blood. Dried. This was a summoning ritual. According to all the clues, this was clear evidence of something sinister. "M, someone's trying to bridge the dark realm of Pandemonium with Azuria."

"Someone's trying to what with the who now?" He tilted his head.

"In ancient times, a war broke out between the worlds of-"

"Orha, short version." He interrupted, to my dismay.

"A big bad army is coming to wreck this world. Led by who I assume to be the Dark Lord himself."

"Cool." M's eyes told me that he was already getting bored. "Look, if there's no treasure here then we might as well split and find Wairuzu and the others."

"No treasure…" I examined the altar closely. The dried blood formed a sort of pentagram along with the rose petals. It was only now that I noticed that the center was hollowed out. "…just a puzzle."

"Great. Puzzles…" M groaned. I could tell he was itching to get back to the lake.

Examining the blood on the altar, I realized that they were all leading to the center but where were they coming from? One of the trails led to the floor as I tracked it with my eyes across the room. A hole was located in the wall which was not too noticeable at first glance. Inserting my finger into it, I heard M gag.

"You sure about that, Orha?"

"The blood drains from here and runs up to the altar. Most of it is dry though meaning no one has used it in a while."

"So we just have to get the blood flowing?"

"Precisely." Straightening myself, I wiped my finger on my clothes. "There must be some mechanism to activate the flow."

"Wait…" M walked over to the altar with the relic in hand. Slowly, he placed it into the indentation in the center. "Huh! Perfect fit."

All at once, blood poured from the walls and formed a stream that even flowed upwards. The thick liquid gathered around the relic as the edges glowed a crimson color. The room around us started shaking as we stumbled back. The altar was now glowing as well. In an instant, the glowing stopped and turned into a large tremor that wiped out all the candles, leaving us in total darkness.

"Um, Orha?" I managed to hear M speak but I couldn't find him the the dark. "You think you could use a spell?"

Groaning, I rolled my eyes. "I told you, I don't have any illumination spells tha-"

 **"WHO DARES DISTURB ME!"** A faintly glowing figure stood before us. It was hard to make out his shape but he was definitely towering over us.

"Holy shit!" We both took a step back before the demon spoke again.

 **"I HAVE ASKED THOU A QUESTION, HAVEN'T I?"**

"Is that a boss?" I caught a slight glimmer coming from M as he readied his scythe. Immediately, I grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Kneel, M."

"Wha? Orha are yo-"

"I said kneel!" I tried to keep my voice as low as possible as we got on one knee.

"Oh, great lord. We are but a pair of Envoys who have come to ask of your aid!"

I heard him smirk with a deep tone. **"AND WHO ART THOU?"**

"I am known as the Wizard Orhaxum. This is my companion, Mnb- M!"

A pair of red eyes appeared and stared right into mine. I felt a chill run down my spine as if I was paralyzed by his glare alone.

 **"IF THOU ARE A FOLLOWER THEN THOU SHOULD KNOW MY NAME."** The shadowy figure shifted as what looked like a devilish smile formed on its face. **"AM I MISTAKEN?"**

"No…" I gulped. There were many lords loyal to the Dark Lord which made it hard to discern who exactly we were speaking to. The fact that he was just a dark silhouette wasn't helping either.

"Hey, Orha?" M whispered to me. "It isn't Dagon, is it?"

"Shush!" I racked my brain for the answer. It had to be connected somehow. The Kali, the blood altar… Dagon Lake!

"Bisolen!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Slowly opening my eyes, I found us surrounded by the dark glow as the room around us lit up to reveal a bipedal goat with large horns and dark blue skin. White fur surrounded its neck and elbows while its ears hung low with golden piercings decorating it.

 **"Very well, Orhaxum the Wizard. You have proven yourself. Tell me your desire."** His voice lowered in tone.

My lips wavered as I spoke. "We desire the information. The location of the Gaia Keys."

Bisolen laughed with his crooked teeth. "You seek knowledge?"

"You are the Herald of Knowledge, aren't you? You even picked to have your shrine next to a body of water, the element of which you are the master of." It was easier to identify his lore as soon as I knew who he was.

 **"You are correct, Wizard. You amuse me."** Bisolen turned around and waved his hand over the relic. **"This artifact shall now provide you with what you seek but know this…"**

Tilting his head to face us, we stared into his red eyes. " **…the keys shall become useless when the Dark Lord invades this world."**

In less than a second, the demon disappeared into darkness as we were left there with a blank expression on our faces.

"Dark Lord, yadda yadda yadda. This just gets better and better." M leaned against the wall and sighed. "What was that anyway, Orha? Why did you make us kneel?"

"Well, how do I explain this to you…" Scratching my head, I groaned. "Okay, you know those visual novels with a bunch of choices that lead down a specific route?"

"Like Love Plus Sakura? Yeah."

"This was one of those things. A cut-scene that made use of the dialogue we provided. Thankfully, I got us down the path without a fight."

"Why would you do that though?" M pouted as he restlessly huddled next to his scythe. "I bet we could've creamed him."

"That wasn't just any boss, M. Bisolen is the Dark Lord's personal assistant. If we were to pick a fight with him, I am certain it would have led to our demise."

"Eh? What are you going on about?"

Sighing, I approached the altar. "Nothing, let's just get this to Wairuzu."

Before I laid my hand on it though, I noticed that one more light had lit up, the green one specifically. People were finding Gaia Keys faster than I thought.

* * *

"Sorry, Takamura-kun. There's nothing I can do in my position." Sakiyama-san's voice came from the other end. What she said disappointed me.

"But it's literally a guy trying to take all the keys for himself, not giving any other players a chance! If he succeeds then there won't be any other players on the council." Leaning against the wall, I curled my hand into a fist in frustration.

"I'm truly sorry, Takamura-kun. When I gave your mother this number, I meant for you to contact me in regards to the ownership issue not a player complaint."

"I..." Damn it.

"However, I will see who I can talk to. I'll get back to you if I learn anything."

"Yeah, tha-" She cut off before I could finish my sentence. Talk about rude. Putting my phone down, I turned to the AuraSphere on my bed-stand.

 _'Guess I should log back in and tell the others.'_ Grabbing the AuraSphere, I was surprised as it vibrated like a phone. A soft ringtone rang out as I put it on. _'What's this?'_

The screen displayed a familiar looking number who was calling me. With a little hesitation, I accepted the call. To my dismay, an annoying voice came from the other end.

"Wairu- or is it Hiro in real life…"

"Shimpei?" It was his real voice this time. "How are you-"

"Oh, I tried adding my contact list to the AuraSphere, makes this thing super convenient, doesn't it?"

"Really? How?"

* * *

It took a while but I managed to upload my phone's information into the AuraSphere. It was more adaptable than I expected.

"Anyways, how was your plea for help?" Shimpei asked me as I scrolled through my contacts to see if they were still complete.

"Didn't go well. Sakiyama-san said she'll try to talk to someone but I doubt it will lead anywhere."

"That sucks. We're on our own then?" I could sense the disappointment in his voice.

"Unfortunately."

"In any case, I was thinking..." He trailed off.

"About?" I paused the scrolling for a moment to hear him out.

"About what Sora- Genji said. About meeting up IRL. We can even invite the others too! Megumi if we're lucky…"

Smirking, I sighed. "Why though?"

"I don't know. Just to catch up, you know. Does it have to have a reason? Plus I think we need a break from hunting virtual keys."

"Fine. Where are we meeting then?" I was nervous asking that but I agreed that it would be nice to see the guys again.

"Well, we can just go to a local Wacdonalds. Or we can meet at..." I continued scrolling as he listed a variety of fast food chains mixed in with expensive cafes. However, his voice trailed of as soon as I paused at a certain name. Tapping it, I made sure the number was the same. I didn't know I still had that number, to be honest. I swear I deleted it a long time ago…

"Hiro? Earth to Hiro? You there?" Shimpei called out.

"Y-yeah. Where?"

"That's the thing. I don't know. There so many places to fill ourselves up with."

"Maybe we can talk to everyone first before deciding?" I suggested.

"Huh, good idea. Well, I'll log in and talk to the others then! Come back as soon as you can."

"Yeah." My body collapsed on my bed as soon as the call ended. Sighing, I opened the contacts list once more to make sure what I saw was real. As expected, it was. A feeling of dread flowed through me as I attempted to delete it. My finger hovered over the button as I struggled to get myself to press it.

 _'Why? Why are you stopping?'_ I asked myself again and again. Just press it, you idiot.

Before I could, however, a notification popped up from the same number.

 _'Why? Why now after all this time?!'_

Opening it, the menu scrolled through the messages that were long forgotten as it arrived at the latest one. It was an invitation of sorts stating the time and date of a celebration to be held at the end of the month.

 _'Why? Why did you message me now?!'_

"Mari…"

* * *

 **Ending: Shirushi by LiSA**

* * *

 **Next Episode: The Third Person**


	16. Episode 16: The Third Person

**Episode 16: The Third Person**

 **April 2033**

It was challenging to start a new school year after everything that had happened. Fortunately, I had managed to get my mom to change my glasses to the basic black color a year ago in order to avoid people picking on me again. The cherry blossoms that had bloomed a bright pink that season were definitely a sight to see, however, my mood that day was far from bright. All of the students stood in front of the board which displayed our names and classes. My eyes scanned frantically as I disappointingly lowered my head.

"We're not classmates, huh?" Shimpei scratched his head.

"Aw… that breaks our eight year streak." Genji said. The three of us had managed to be classmates for eight straight years so it was sad to see us split up. Fortunately for them, they ended up together. Just my luck, I probably had this coming thanks to karma.

"Hey, Hiro. Are you-"

"I'm going to be fine." I told Shimpei as I pushed up my glasses. At that point, I didn't even know if it was a lie.

And that's how our third year of high school started. Over the course of a year, I had learned to keep a low profile so I never spoke to anyone. No one would happily chat with a bully like me, anyways. I used to go with Shimpei and Grei all the time but now I just had to settle for breaks. Even then, they had amassed a group of friends; I had only tagged alongside. They even managed to bring Rei in. Of course, he would leave whenever I was there and vice-versa. We usually gathered in the cafeteria where noise was abundant. However, the noisiest group of them all was known by everyone as the Divers. Not because they do actual sea diving but because they were the school's first varsity VR team formed only two years ago. The game they played was more akin to competitive games like battle arenas and character based shooters.

"Them again?" Akinori Rin, who you know as Mnbbvb. He had a sturdier look in real life with short hair and glasses to boot. He'd always talk about VR since he was the only one of us who had an AmuSphere. "Wish they'd shut up for once. What's so great about Paradawn anyway?"

"You're just annoyed because you didn't make the cut." Michinori Rokkaku, Orhaxum. He was a lot taller in real life and a lot skinnier, looking more like a skeleton to be honest but he always said that's how he normally looks. The only thing he had in common with his avatar were his dead eyes.

"Well, it's not my fault I specialize in a completely different genre!" Aki crossed his arms and sighed.

Shimpei laughed. "Is fishing even a genre? If I were you, I would expand my game library to more than that."

"You should buy your own VR device then!" He teased. He knew we could barely afford such a pleasure. "Oh, by the way, did you hear that they're developing the AmuSphere's successor?"

"Hey, isn't your uncle working on that, Hiro?" Shimpei would always try to include me in the conversation as much as possible. It only worked sometimes as I would usually speak for a few minutes before they would return to another topic.

"Y-yes…"

"What's it look like? Is it going to have any new features? What's the launch game? Can we get advanced copies?" Shimpei winked at me as the rest laughed at his delusions of grandeur.

"Well… I don't really know much. He doesn't talk to me as often as he used to."

"Oh, you guys should definitely think about picking it up when it comes out." Aki faced the others, slightly ignoring what I said. I always felt like there was an uneasy aura between us.

"I've saved up quite a lot of money for an AmuSphere but I guess it'll be worth it to wait for the next generation." Shimpei smiled.

"I don't know… I'd rather not spend too much on a gaming device." Genji was always careful when it came to cash. All Michi did was silently nod in agreement even though he would probably end up buying it anyway.

"Great, once we get it, we can form a team and beat down those Diver losers!" Aki raised his fist in the air.

"What'd you call us?" I guess he said that a little bit too loud. In an instant, all six members of the Divers came up to our table. Half of them were girls while the other were male. All of them were led by Ryotaro Chiba, the team's captain and a well-known name among the students. "Losers?"

"Eh... You heard me, huh?" Aki scratched the back of his neck.

"Of course he did, you're too loud." Michi said.

"Then how about it? A one-on-one match of Paradawn? We'll see who's the actual loser." He slicked his hair back up, giving off a confident aura. I hated people like him, always walking around with a flare of power like he was above everyone else. What was worse was the flock that followed him everywhere he went, never thinking for themselves like mindless sheep. With lunch time running out, we quickly rushed to their training room where multiple PC's and AmuSpheres were housed. Beside them were comfy beds for the players to lie on. Our school definitely did not skimp on the budget. At first, I was worried the bell would ring in the middle of the fight but instead, it was over way too quickly.

"Damn it…" Aki put down his AmuSphere in defeat. I guess he never stood a chance.

"That's our Ryo-kun!" One of the girls whose name I didn't care to know came up to him to congratulate him. He confidently smiled as he sat up from the bed he lay in and recieved a couple of fist bumps from the guys.

"In any case, good game, Rin-kun." Ryo held his hand out as Aki met it, to our surprise. "Next time, try to keep the name-calling to yourself okay? I don't appreciate you insulting my team like that."

"Yeah, yeah… Next time, we should compete in Fishing Planet."

"Yeah, I don't think so." His eyes then turned to me like he recognized me. It was obvious from where. "You're Takamura-kun, right?"

"Huh? Yes…"

 _'What do you want from me? Just leave with your minions already.'_

"Oh nevermind. It's nothing." With that, he smiled and left along with the cult that worshiped him. I had to control myself since I could already feel like he was looking down on me. It took a long time for people to stop picking on me but even now, their eyes were that of judgment. I knew what their thoughts were with every wordless glance. Everyone knew who I was, everyone knew what I did. He was no different from the rest so I was angry that he refrained from saying what everyone was thinking: that I'm just a monster.

 ***DING***

The school bells rang as we realized it was about time we got back to class. With a few words, I parted from my friends and headed to my classroom, the loneliest place on Earth as I'd call it. It was the usual subject where we had to get a group work done. The teacher had selected the groups randomly, not that I had anyone in particular I wanted to be grouped with anyway. Most of the class were already familiar with each other so hierarchies had already formed. My group had three girls along with another boy. I never bothered to call them by their names since I just responded with nods. It was pretty simple, all I had to do was shut up and follow the leader, pasting a bunch of paper onto an illustration board.

 _'Isn't he the bully from last year?'_

 _'I heard he made a new student take a week off of school.'_

 _'Ha? That's so mean.'_

 _'Good thing he's not with us. I'd never stand people like that.'_

 _'Shut up. I can hear you! You don't need to remind me!'_ I heard their voices with every glance thrown in my direction. I kept hearing them everytime I walked down the hallway, every time I ate lunch. All the time they would talk and talk without even opening their mouths. It was driving me insane.

"Hey."

My lowered head lifted as I was met with a girl who had her brown hair tied back. Her eyes had a sparkle in them while a small lock of hair fell over the side of her face. I didn't recognize her but she definitely wasn't part of my group.

"You're Takamura-kun, right?"

"Y-yeah?" I tried to speak as clearly as I could, waiting for her to give me the same disgusted face that everyone makes but what she said next completely caught me off guard.

"You know a lot about games, don't you?"

"Eh?"

That was how I met the third person I trusted completely. That was also how I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

* * *

After class had ended, I said goodbye to the others and made my way to the back of the school where she was waiting with my school bag in hand. I found her leaning on the wall with her own blue bag on her shoulder while whistling a tune I was not familiar with. Her head lifted as she smiled and waved.

"Takamura-kun, you came."

"Well, you didn't really give me a chance to refuse…" All she did was tell me to meet her at the back of the school after class before immediately skipping away.

"Let's go." She walked past me.

"Where?"

"To my house."

"Eh?"

 _'I'm sorry what?'_

Spinning, her skirt flared around. "I just need you to take a look at something."

"Can you tell me what?" I lifted an eyebrow. Honestly, this was all seeming more and more suspicious by the minute. My adolescent imagination can only have so much control.

"I'd rather show you but you need to promise not to tell anyone else, okay?" She swiftly raised her finger to my face, startling me a little bit.

"Okay…"

 _'I'm going to regret this, aren't I?'_

She led the way as I pulled out my phone and texted my mom that I would come home late because of a project. That was a lie of course but I would never hear the last of it if I told her I was visiting a girl's house. A few minutes of silence between us passed by as I glanced over at her hair which was swinging back and forth from the wind like a pendulum. The sight of it nearly hypnotized me as her hand firmly grasped the strap of her blue bag which was swaying along with her movements. Who was she anyway?

"Um…"

"We're almost there, don't worry." She gave me a smile as we passed by a grotto of blooming cherry blossoms leading up to the local shrine. I paused in awe at the beautiful sight. The shade of the sunset really made the colors pop.

"Takamura-kun, my house is right here." She pointed at a path leading to a secluded house that sat near the shrine.

"Wait… you're not Amari-san, are you? Mariko Amari?" I asked her as she giggled.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? How did you know?"

"I used to visit the shrine as a kid. You're one of the shrine maidens right?" That statement made her blush in a way that gave me the same reaction as well. I didn't even know why that memory lingered in mind.

"N-not anymore… I kinda outgrew that." She scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously. "Oh, we should get going. You probably need to get home before dark, don't you?"

"Yeah…" I reluctantly followed her into her house which was a lot bigger than I expected. It even had a familiar Western feel to it. As we took off our shoes, a middle aged woman who was all dressed up for a party greeted us.

"Auntie, this is Hiroyuki Takamura, a classmate from school." She introduced me with an open hand.

"Oh, a boy! How exciting!" She giggled.

"Auntie! Behave yourself. I'm just bringing home a friend to help with homework." Mari puffed her cheeks.

"Okay, okay." She put her purse to her side and moved towards me. "My name is Chigusa Amari, Mari's aunt. Nice to meet you Takamura-kun! Feel free to make yourself at home."

"Y-yes." I nervously said as she walked past us and put her shoes on.

"I'll be back by midnight so take care of my little Mari until then, Takamura-kun!" She happily waved as she left with a wink.

"Sorry about her. She can be over the top sometimes." Mari sighed.

"Where's she going?"

"Oh, out with her friends again. That woman has a constant need to socialize."

"You don't live with your parents?"

"My mom… she works most of the time. So I barely see her." Mari proceeded to lead me down the hall to a room that was on the left. Placing her bag next to the door frame, she welcomed me in. "This is my room. You can sit anywhere you like. I'll go and make some tea."

"Y-yes…" I carefully excused myself and stepped into her room, never letting go of the bag I held. This was the first time I've been inside a girl's room so I was a nervous wreck; my sister doesn't count. It was a blast of purple which was what I assumed was her favorite color; the walls and the bed had the same shade as well as some of the furniture. I nervously took my seat on her bed which had just enough bounce to it. Examining the rest of the room, I found multiple stuffed animals lined up around a purple bean bag. Next to those was her desk where an expensive looking laptop sat in front of a rolling chair. Curiously, I walked over to it and opened it. Password. Of course.

"Hey."

My body froze as I turned around slowly, smiling crookedly. Mari was holding a tray with two cups of tea plated on small saucers. It definitely looked as elegant as her house.

"Are you trying to go through my stuff?" Her eyes vacantly stared into mine.

"I-uh…"

She immediately let out a laugh and set the tea down on the stand beside her bed. "That's not why I brought you here, dummy."

"Then why?" I gulped in anticipation.

"I wanted you to take a look at this." Mari knelt down and pulled out a cardboard box from underneath her bed. I curiously gazed over her as she took out something I never thought I'd see in person.

"A NerveGear?!" Taking a step back, I shouted in surprise.

"Shush!" She quieted me down. "I was wondering if you could get it to work."

"Me?!" I pointed at myself. "Isn't that illegal? Those things were scrapped after the SAO incident. Why would you want it fixed?"

"I-" She paused as she held her arm and looked down. "I just want to try out VR that's all. My Auntie and my mom would definitely refuse to buy me an AmuSphere so this is my best shot."

"Where'd you even get a NerveGear?" They were completely recalled almost a decade ago. None of them should still be left in the world save for the black market or something.

"I-it's…" Her lips wavered as she spoke. "Look, if you don't want to do this, you're free to go back home. I'm sorry for dragging you all the way here."

She made an annoyed face as she walked past me. Instinctively, I grabbed her by the arm and stopped her from leaving. "I'll… I'll see what I can do."

"Really?" Her eyes sparkled the same way they did when I first met her. I turned my face away to hide the blush that was forming on it.

"I'll just take a look at it first." Releasing my grasp on her, I picked the NerveGear up and spun it around. Finding the power button, I pressed it to no avail. "Have you tried plugging it in?"

"Yeah, but it still won't turn on." She walked over and unlocked her laptop. A photo of some famous actor displayed on her wallpaper as she frantically attempted to hide it with the web browser. I smirked a little bit at that. "Y-you're welcome to try, Takamura-kun."

"I will." Bringing the cord with me, I sat down on the chair and plugged the NerveGear into the laptop, pressing the power button once more. No effect. Scratching my head, I wondered what the issue was so I started examining the device from top to bottom.

"Hey, Takamura-kun?" Mari gently tapped me on the shoulder. "You mind if I take a shower real quick? I feel grimy…"

"Uh, s-sure…" I pushed up my glasses as she went into the bathroom. My head began to fill with thoughts that I forced myself to block out as the sound of running water hit my ears. What was I doing? Why was I here? Did she really just ask me to fix her death machine?

* * *

Over an hour had passed as I searched through forums and studied up on the NerveGear's mechanics yet none of these yielded anything of substance. After all, there was no one left in the world who still had a functioning NerveGear that needed customer support, not that it had customer support to begin with. Mari was sitting right beside me dressed in her pajamas which were also of a purple hue. She swung her legs back and forth as she curiously stared at the laptop's screen.

"Nothing?"

"Nope. It's not like there's an active forum related to fixing a NerveGear. Something like that would probably be shut down immediately by the government or something."

"I see…" She held her head down.

"But..." I leaned back on the chair I sat on and stretched my arms. "I think I know where to get some solid information on this. I'll come back next time with it and we can try to figure out what's wrong."

"You're willing to come back?" Her eyes sparkled again.

"I-I guess…" Standing up, I grabbed my bag and proceeded to leave.

"When?" She asked.

"Next week, I guess. Same time."

"Oh, okay!" She gave me another bright smile. "And remember, not a word of this in school! We can't even talk to each other there!"

"Yeah, yeah. Otherwise you'll get arrested and stuff…" This was weirdly similar to a forbidden relationship in my mind. Before I left, I turned around because another thought came to my mind. "Hey, Amari-san?"

"Hm?" She turned around as she was shutting down her laptop.

"Does your aunt come back to cook dinner?" It was getting late yet Mari was still the only one left in her house.

"Oh, no. She comes back after midnight."

"Does she leave you food or something?"

"No, I usually microwave leftovers."

"Oh..." I turned around to leave before letting out a sigh. I was really going to do this. Immediately, I pulled out my phone and called my mom. She answered in an instant.

"Hey, mom? Yeah, I'm okay. I just wanted to let you know that the project's taking a bit more time than I expected. Yeah… I won't be eating dinner there."

"What?"

"Yeah… thanks, mom." I hung up and turned around. Mari had a confused look on her face.

"Takamura-kun…"

"Is your kitchen stocked? I'd like to brush up on my cooking skills, if you don't mind." I smiled. This was the first time I've smiled like that in a very long time.

* * *

With an apron on me, I did my best to cook a plate of scrambled eggs. Sifting the pan, I laid down the salt and pepper, making sure they were the right amount. Mari was beside me, waiting for the rice to finish cooking. Her gaze made me nervous as I sifted the eggs with a spatula.

"I didn't know you knew how to cook." She said with a smile.

"This is the only thing I know how to cook, though. It's a basic recipe from my uncle. He always said it got him through the toughest all-nighters back in college."

My story made Mari giggle which in turn made me smile. "Your uncle sounds like a nice person."

"He was..." Here we go again with the praise.

"You're a nice person too, Takamura-kun." This came out of nowhere and filled my face with red.

"U-um, how's the rice doing?" I immediately asked.

"Oh?" She went over and opened the top of the rice cooker. "Seems about ready!"

"Good. Let's plate them up."

Mari filled two bowls with rice as I divided the eggs among them. To my surprise, they actually looked quite delicious. It was one of my proudest moments, actually.

"Thanks for the food!" We both dug into the food. It actually tasted quite well. A minute of eating passed before I spoke up.

"I'm not as you say, Amari-san."

She glanced up at me. "What?"

"I'm not a nice person. I'm sure you've heard of what I did." Everyone has.

"Yeah, I simply don't care." Her statement widened my eyes. "It's in the past, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"And you're not like that anymore, are you?"

"I guess…"

"Good. Then it's pointless to dwell on that. We can just talk about something else."

"O-of course."

The rest of the night was spent chatting about random things like school and such. Afterwards, she thanked me for the meal and even insisted that she would be the one to clean up the dishes. It was a good night. I almost felt sad to have to leave afterwards but it didn't matter, I was coming back the next week.

* * *

"What's that?" Mari pointed at the notebook I had in my hands. We were sitting on the floor with her laptop out and NerveGear beside it.

"It's a journal my uncle kept in college. He left it with me when he went off to work for RECT. Inside it are various information related to his studies on VR."

"Your uncle studied VR?"

"Well, he was a management student but VR was his hobby." Flipping through the notes, I found the section related to the NerveGear. I knew he got it on day one but decided to tinker with it instead of using it. I've always gotten chills thinking about how close he was to joining the death game itself. On the side was a breakdown of the components. It seemed like we would have to check each one.

"Amari-san? You don't happen to have a screwdriver do you?"

"Oh, I should have one in the shelves outside." She stood up and rushed out the room as I examined the notes. All the things my uncle taught me about these devices was a blur in my mind. I never knew a lot yet I could still grasp the concept of some of the terms inside the notebook.

"Here, Takamura-kun."

"Thanks." I began to unscrew the top part of the device, revealing an amalgamation of wires and circuit boards. "This… might take a while."

Poking around a bit, I made sure not to damage any parts. As I did, Mari was closely watching my movements like a curious cat.

"Hey, Takamura-kun?"

"Yeah?" I spoke as I kept my eyes on the NerveGear.

"Y-you're staying for dinner again, right?"

I smiled. "Of course."

* * *

 **August 2033**

For the rest of the semester, I would visit Mari's house to examine the NerveGear. At that point my mom was suspicious of my activities so I just changed my lie to having a group study with my friends every week. She ate that up way too easily. Thanks all the school work and occasional personal reasons, we still weren't able to find the problem. We'd tinker with the NerveGear for an hour before eating dinner. Sometimes we would order pizza, sometimes I would make my scrambled eggs again, sometimes we would just give up and pop open a bag of chips along with some cola. That was our routine until summer had started. Once it did, I started visiting her more frequently under the guise that I was going out with my friends. We made so much progress within the first few weeks that it all passed by like a dream. It was only during the final weeks of summer that we made a major discovery…

"Hey." I removed a component from the NerveGear. It was a small metallic rectangle that was attached to microwave emitter. "I think this is what's wrong."

"Seriously?" I handed her the part as she examined it curiously. "This little thing was causing the problem?"

"Yeah. It's..." I scanned through my uncle's notes. "It's a mini battery that's supposed to power the microwaves emitted by the NerveGear. But it's completely fried…"

The pieces of the puzzle automatically clicked in my head as I said that. How did I not see this coming? "Amari-san..."

She held her head down, her eyes not as sparkling as they used to be. Finding the courage within me, I asked the right question this time. "Amari-san... whose NerveGear is this?"

She deeply inhaled before replying. "It's... my dad's."

"W-what?" My eyes widened.

"Eleven years ago, my dad bought a NerveGear against my mother's wishes. They were fighting constantly at that time so he wanted to escape into a different world. My mom told him to go die. Little did she know, that's exactly what he did. I-I thought that if I could get it to work again, I could…" Tears started running down her face as she broke down completely. "I could feel closer to him!"

She let out a cry which I could only describe as pure pain. She wanted to see what her father saw. She wanted to know why he preferred the virtual world over the real one. Reaching my hand out, I hesitated. I definitely did not know what do to in this situation so I just put it back down. I wanted to comfort her but I didn't know how to. I cursed myself for my inability to act.

"I'm sorry, Takamura-kun. I didn't mean for you to see that…" She spoke as she wiped away the tears from her eyes.

"Amari-san… you don't need to apologize." I stood up with the mini battery in hand. "Look, I know a place where we can get a replacement for this. With a little luck, we can get it working again."

"T-thank you…" She smiled with her moist eyes. "Thank you so much…"

"Don't mention it, Amari-san." I gave her another smile.

"Hey…" She was twirling the strand of hair on her face as she spoke. "D-do you think…"

"Hm?"

"Do you think it's okay if we call each other by our first names?" She spit it out.

"Oh? Uh, sure." I know it was a big deal in Japanese culture to call people by their first names but growing up in a semi-American household, it was the norm for me so I didn't see any problems in it. "Mariko…"

Her face flushed red as she inhaled and said my name. "Hiroyuki-kun..."

I didn't know why but hearing that made me feel happy but something was definitely off. "Look, you can just call me Hiro, without the honorifics. My friends do the same."

"You can call me Mari then!" She adorably grinned.

* * *

I carefully inserted the plug into the laptop for what I had hoped was the last time. Carefully pressing the power button, we were met with a bright glowing light.

"Yes!" We jumped in joy. After four months, we had managed to fix a NerveGear!

"Right, I've connected it to the AmuSphere's VR launcher. Thankfully that part was free."

"Then I'll be able to play any game I want?" She was leaning over my shoulders, staring happily at the screen.

"The free ones yes. You still need to purchase paid games, of course." Clicking around, I started a basic program that acted like a drawing app but in VR. It was the default application every AmuSphere came with.

"Right. All that's left is to test it." I held the NerveGear in my hands. We managed to replace the fried battery as well as any other parts needed but I was still unsure.

"Hiro, what's wrong?"

"This is still a NerveGear, a device that killed thousands of players before. If the microwave emitters mess up then I don't know if…"

"I'll try it then." She reached out to grab the device as I hesitantly pulled back.

"No, Mari. If something goes wrong then you could-" I didn't even want to think about what would happen if that occurred.

"It's my NerveGear. I was the one who asked you to repair it. I should be taking the risk."

Sighing I immediately placed the device on my head. I definitely had no choice now. Besides, it was already too late to turn back.

"Hiro!" She attempted to pull it off my head but I just swiped her hands away.

"We're not having this discussion." With one deep breath I clicked on the play button on the laptop's screen. I immediately felt a wave of dizziness go through my head as I entered a tunnel of light. That bright light filled my vision as I opened my eyes. I found myself in a completely white room which somehow made me feel as though I was completely weightless.

 _'Did I just die? Cool.'_ Waving my hand, a line of black ink followed. _'Oh, it worked?'_

I started waving the rest of my hands around, forming a complete mess of shapes. This was actually really fun. I kept drawing and drawing, all the while, I was laughing and shouting like an idiot.

 _'I'm in VR. I'm in VR!'_ I couldn't wait to tell Mari about this. After a few more minutes of mindlessly making a mess of the room, I swiped my hand down and logged out through the menu. My vision recovered slowly as my eyes adjusted to reality again.

"Hiro!" I woke up to find her next to me, all teary eyed and such.

"Huh?" Taking off the NerveGear, I placed it beside the laptop. "Why are you crying? It's fine. It worked."

"You… you looked just like my dad…" The tears fell down her face once more. "I-I thought you were gone like him… I thought I killed you!"

"Hey." To my complete surprise, she wrapped her arms around me. My hands waved around frantically before I calmed down and hugged her back, feeling the warmth between us. She sobbed as she dug her head into my shoulder. "Hey, I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

 **February 2034**

The months following the first NerveGear test went by slowly. There was no need for me to visit her anymore so we mostly saw each other in school. Even then, Mari and I didn't really talk much since we still had to hide the fact that she was harboring an illegal piece of technology. Occasionally, we would bump into each other and exchange a quick hello before parting ways but that was about it. I sometimes wished we could talk normally since the only way we truly conversed was through texts. She would talk about what VR applications she would try out and describe it as well as she could. I wished things were as simple as that but unfortunately, that wasn't the case. I was in the cafeteria yet again with the guys. We were talking about the recently announced AuraSphere that was going to be released in the coming months. It had just wrapped up its beta tests so it was in its final phase of development.

"It's so compact! It's perfect!" Aki was freaking out over the image on his smartphone. He seemed really excited about this.

"Yeah, I'm definitely picking this up when it launches." Shimpei stroked his chin in agreement. "We should all get one and play the launch game. What was it again?"

"Aura Kingdom Online." Michi poked his head from his phone. He had already started reading up on any info that had gotten leaked from the game. At this point, he was already sold.

"I wish I could guys…" Genji laughed nervously.

"Don't worry, if we work part time jobs, we can definitely get you one!" Shimpei immediately patted him on the back.

"T-that just makes me feel embarrassed…" He lowered his head while blushing deeply.

This was the kind of stuff we talked about while everyone else was excited for the Valentine's Dance our school held every year. It was a famous event held in February where people would dress up and do whatever they do at dances. I wouldn't know, I never bothered to go to any but now I was seriously considering it because I finally had someone I wanted to ask. That feeling didn't last long.

"Hey, so I was wondering if you had a date to the dance?" I heard a familiar voice from the distance. Looking over, my eyes could not believe what was in front of me. Ryo was there talking to one girl. Mari.

 **Ending: Shirushi by LiSA**

"W-what?" Thousands of thoughts ran into my head. I had spent so much time trying to get her NerveGear to work, it never occurred to me why she wanted a VR device in the first place. Now it was clear why. A single tear fell down my cheek as I took a step back in shock.

"N-no. Why?" She replied.

He began nervously scratching his head. "Well I was thinking… you know? We could, uh, go together?"

She gave him a bright smile. Her eyes sparkled the same way they used to sparkle at me. "Sure, why not?"

"Hm? Hiro?" Genji turned to me. I immediately bolted in order to avoid showing them that side of me. I was an idiot. Pausing in my tracks, I took a breather. Why?

One day passed.

 ** _Mariko Amari: 'Hey, Hiro? You still alive?'_**

I didn't want to reply. I didn't feel like replying.

A few days passed.

 ** _Mariko Amari: 'Are you doing well? I see you in the halls but you seem more distant than usual.'_**

I didn't want to talk to her. I didn't feel like talking to her.

Months…

 ** _Mariko Amari: 'Did I do something wrong? I'm really sorry if I did.'_**

Why? Why does it hurt?

Eventually, she stopped messaging me. When the summer break of our fourth year started, I just decided to delete her number. What did I expect? I made a mistake of trusting her and she used that to her advantage. I should've seen that coming. After all, humans, in nature, are selfish. I thought that was really annoying.

* * *

 **Next Episode: The Dark Invasion**


	17. Episode 17: The Dark Invasion

**Episode 17: The Dark Invasion**

 **"FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE AND MASTER ALL OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS! JOIN THE BATTLE NOW!"**

An advertisement was playing on the television nearby as I leaned back on the soft chair I sat on. In my hand was a cup of melon soda with a cute straw sticking out of it. Glancing over to Hiro and Genji, it was clear they were also watching.

 **"NOW AVAILABLE ON THE AURASPHERE!"**

"The new games are out…" Genji turned around and quietly sipped from his hot espresso.

"Which means AKO's on its final legs. With Jayce hogging all the keys to himself, our work just gets easier and easier." Ruffling my hair in frustration, I groaned. "Is this event really going to fix everything? It seems more and more like RECT has no idea what they're doing."

"I'm sure they have a plan. It would be a shame to see the game go to waste."

My eyes moved towards Hiro who was just mixing his frap with his straw, staring into it like he was in some sort of trance.

"Hiro, do you think you could contact that lawyer lady again? Maybe she has something for us."

No response.

"Hey, Hiro!" Leaning forward, I tapped him on his glasses. He startlingly jumped back in his seat, almost spilling his coffee.

"What did you do that for, idiot?!"

"Jeez, you've been out of it since we got here." After talking to the others online, we decided to meet at the local coffee shop. I never liked coffee but they did have comfy chairs. "Something on your mind, dude?"

"N-no… it's nothing."

"Really?" I pushed forward.

"Really. Now stop bothering me." He pouted as he took a sip.

"Why are you on edge? You can be yourself again. It's just the three of us here, anyway." Placing my drink on the table in between us, I leaned all the way back into my chair.

"It's a shame Aki and Michi couldn't come." Genji seemed disheartened. "Even more of a shame Megumi wasn't comfortable with meeting up in real life."

"You were excited to meet her, weren't you?" I chuckled as Genji's face turned red.

"N-no! I mean it would be nice to know what she looks like in real life but…" He started twiddling his thumbs like an anxious child. Still the romantic, as ever.

"Alright, alright. You don't need to explain your adolescent fantasies."

He gave me an angry glare. "You need to stop teasing people, Shimpei!"

I laughed at his remark. "Never."

"Huh?" Hiro had his orange AuraSphere on as he swiped at an invisible menu. Since the display was projected directly to our minds. Only those using the AuraSphere could see it. It worked kind of like the Augma from back then.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Message from M. He's calling a guild meeting." Hiro had decided early on that even if he was the official leader of the [Name Redacted] Guild, everyone was on equal footing. We were all moderators and such so we could call for meetings or do stuff regular members couldn't.

"Hey, where'd you get an orange one, by the way?" Genji curiously examined his AuraSphere.

"Oh, it's just a gift from my uncle. I didn't really get to choose the color."

"Lucky..." I sheepishly took out my monochromatic AuraSphere and placed it on my ears. "We should log in then."

"Ahem." The shop-owner, a man who looked like he was in his forties with a considerably receding hairline, stood over us with a green apron on him. He then pointed to a sign nearby that read _'No Diving allowed'._ With the popularity of VR devices nowadays, it would make sense some shop-owners wouldn't want dozens of people passed out on their chairs with electronic gadgets on their heads.

"Right... Sorry." Standing up, I chugged what was left of my melon soda. "Okay, who's house this time?"

"Wait what?" Genji asked.

"Yes, what?" Hiro narrowed his eyes.

"Well, we're going to need to dive somewhere."

As we all scratched our heads, our valiant Hiro sighed as we all knew who we were thinking of.

"Fine but you're not getting any free food."

* * *

 **Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

"Auntie?" After scouring the house for a few minutes, I finally found her sitting at the dining table dressed in her usual pink kimono with my phone right beside her. "There it is."

"Oh, Mari! I'm sorry, were you looking for your phone?"

"Yeah. I was going to listen to some music. Wait, why do you have it in the first place?" I suspiciously asked as I picked it up.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind but I used it to invite your friends to your farewell party. I already finalized everything so don't you worry."

"Auntie, you know I don't like you going through my stuff without my permission." I should have locked this thing with a password.

"Don't worry, I didn't read through any of your messages. I can respect a woman's privacy."

Just to make sure, I scrolled through my contact list and read each message. It was just the regular _'Come to my farewell party'_ kind of stuff with the details attached followed by a little cringe-worthy _'Ill definitely cherish the times we've had'_ added to it. So far, no problem. My regular friends were invited and anyone I've ever had a problem with were already gone from the contact list anyway. At least that was what I thought.

"Oh, and I invited that nice boy you used to bring around all the time last year."

I froze in my tracks as I heard that sentence. "W-wait… You did what?!"

"It's a shame he doesn't come around anymore so I invited him."

"Auntie!"

"What? You two aren't broken up, are you?"

"We were never together in the first place!" Storming away, I made my way to my room and shut the door. I can't believe she did something so stupid. Landing on my bed, I kicked my legs back and forth in frustration. Scrolling through our messages, I remembered everything and immediately shut my phone off. "Hiro... How are you now, I wonder?"

All of a sudden, a message came up which jolted me a bit. I hurriedly unlocked my phone and was slightly disappointed to find a notification from my VR app. It was a guild meeting sanctioned by M. Sitting over my bed, I gently kicked the box my NerveGear was in with the back of my feet.

 _'If it wasn't for Hiro, I wouldn't have bought AKO. I wouldn't have met all these kind people…'_ I thought inviting him wasn't such a bad idea. Even if he ignored me for months, I admitted it would still be nice to see him again...

* * *

"Pardon me…" Genji softly whispered as he entered my house. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact my place was nearby, I wouldn't have agreed but since it was just Shimpei and Genji coming over I thought it would be okay.

"Home alone?" Shimpei asked as he skipped over to the dining area and spun around, admiring the surroundings.

"My parents should be at the office by now so that just leaves-" Oh no.

"Big brother?" My little sister stood in the middle of the staircase, staring at us. A big smile formed on her face as she glanced at the other two. " Matsuo-san! Sotomura-san!"

"Nice to see you again, kid! Have you been growing taller?" Shimpei asked as she skipped over to him to receive a head rub.

"Yup! Soon, I'll be as tall as Big Brother!" She was always happy when my friends came over. Her main reason apparently was because they acted like better big brothers than me. Well, in my defense, I can't please everyone.

"Wait a minute... You weren't supposed to leave the house! Mom said you had to watch over me!" She turned to me with her finger as sharp as a nail.

"You were doing just fine in your room. I was only going to be gone for an hour." My parents had put me in charge of babysitting this brat whenever they would leave for work.

"I'm still telling Mom you abandoned me!" She crossed her arms. How I wish that were the case.

"Look, Rin, we don't have time for this. We'll be in my room so don't go in, alright?"

"What if I get hungry?"

"Starve then." We walked past her as she stuck her tongue out in retaliation.

"Don't you think you're being too harsh on her, Hiro?" Genji asked as we climbed the stairs.

"Trust me, that monster deserves no mercy." I led them to my room which was still a mess since I wasn't really expecting guests. My school bag sat right next to the door with papers and books spilling out of it just as I had left it when summer started. After closing the door, I turned around to Shimpei crossing his arms and surveying the room.

"What?" I asked him.

"You could use more decor, you know. A room is supposed to be the representation of one's self!"

"Shut up, Shimpei." Putting my AuraSphere back on, I sat on the chair in front of my desk and rested my head on my arms. "You guys can take the bed, I'll just pass out here."

"Y-you want us to share a bed?" Genji stuttered.

"Please don't say it like that, Gen. If only you were a girl." Shimpei sighed as he took his place horizontal to the foot of the bed. Genji reluctantly laid down beside him. Both of them put their AuraSpheres on and got ready to dive.

"Right, on three…"

"Link start!"

"Shimpei! Damn it! Link start!"

"Wait for me guys!"

* * *

"Alright!" I slammed my hands on the table for a great effect. Our guild had gathered in the Golden Coast Inn for the meeting I had called.

"You don't have to be so loud, M." Orha told me as he stood next to me holding the relic.

"Hey, where's Megumi?" Soran asked, noticing that our cute Sorcerer was not in attendance.

"She said something came up so she couldn't come today which is unfortunate indeed but…" I cleared my throat. "The show must go on! I now call forth [Name Redacted]'s first official meeting! We really need to change that name…"

"And the point is?" Wairuzu crossed his arms. He was never the most patient one among us.

"Orha?" He placed the circular relic onto the table in front of the others who gazed at it with keen eyes.

"We got this from the Dagon dungeon yesterday. It's a relic that tells us how many Gaia Keys are left." Currently, the only ones lit were the orange, blue, and green ones.

"This particular artifact is called the Dial of Reinhardt." Orha started throwing up lore. "From my understanding, it was forged by the Dark Lord to locate Gaia Keys as long as it is imbued with his power."

"Yeah, some goat guy waved his magic hand over it and now we can do this." I touched the white section of the dial as a monochromatic hologram popped up showing a small body of water surrounded by beautiful cherry blossoms and all different kinds of flowers.

"Wait… is that the location of the white Gaia Key?" Soran jumped from his seat to examine the place depicted in the dial.

"Yeah but the dial only shows the location of a landmark and the landmarks themselves are pretty vague." I explained. "Which is why we need your help."

"Sure, we could use a scavenger hunt." Daize grinned, obviously proud of his Hunter skills which involve tracking and such.

"We should start with something easy then." Our knight said.

"That's what I thought and after examining each of these locations, we've come up with one that we recognized."

"I recognized." The Wizard corrected as he selected the black part of the dial, revealing a hellish looking altar that had bones and spikes strewn around a pentagram looking circle. "According to the surroundings, this one should be located in the Dark Realm, Pandemonium which is one of the most dangerous maps in the game."

"Well, it is the final area, isn't it?" Daize asked. He was right, this was where you would challenge the Dark Lord himself.

"Is there anything a little less… intimidating?" Soran nervously laughed.

"Unless you want to go after vague images, be my guest." I said as the rest of them tapped on the other parts of the dial. After looking over each one, most of them were pretty generic looking like a random cliff-side mountain or a bunch of hanging vines on a tree.

"We need to think this over more." Wairuzu said. "We can't just rush over to the final boss."

"He's right but on the other hand, we don't know if we're the only ones who have something like this. For all we know, there might be more relics in the world for players to use." Orha explained. Of everyone got their hands on something like this, the Gaia Key hunt would be over in a flash thanks to forum discussions.

"Well for now, we should-" The swordsman was interrupted by a sudden crackling coming from outside. The windows and glasses around us shuddered as they recoiled from the loud bang.

"What was that?" Soran rushed outside the door as we followed. We stood there gazing at the sky which had turned dark. Red lighting emanated from the dark clouds as a bolt struck down onto the ground before us. As the smoke cleared, a man with long white hair and black armor that glowed a crimson red stepped forward. He held in his hand a dark long-sword that was embedded with red lightning.

"I have come for Azuria…"

* * *

 **Earlier**

The plains of Pandemonium were cloaked in darkness with a forever cold wind blowing through it. Crimson dust flew past us as we made our way to the Dark Lord's chambers. I had a blue mask covering my mouth and nose as I kept trudging forward with Kage and Arryn by my side.

"Jayce, are you sure there's a key here?" The dark Ravager asked me.

"After much research, yes. It makes sense too. This is the final dungeon in the game, the boss of which is level 100"

"Can we really take on something like that?" The Duelist wavered. She was understandably hesitant about taking on such a powerful foe.

"Don't worry, you guys have me. If anything goes wrong, you stay back and I'll unleash hell." I stared at the fist I made with my right hand. Whatever it takes, I will save this game. After grabbing the orange and blue Gaia Keys, I had faith that we would be able to collect the rest. Arriving at what looked like an enormous mausoleum, the dark gates slowly creaked open as a black beacon shot up into the sky. Entering the premises, we found it to be a hellish courtyard with an altar at the center of it. The altar was surrounded with bones and effigies which had a pentagram at its center.

"I see I have guests." A man with long white hair stared at us with his red eyes from a balcony above. "Are you here to kill me?"

Arryn and Kage instinctively pulled out their weapons and prepared for a fight, however, I stopped them from moving forward. A notification had appeared on my screen.

"Stand down, guys."

Kage was riled up. "Jayce? What the hell are yo-"

"Just trust me." I said as they both nodded. After reading the text on the screen, I started moving towards the Dark Lord.

 _'Join the Dark Lord by bowing or fight him and restore peace to Azuria.'_ These words were displayed in front of me in a bright blue text. This was a ghost mission. The latter sounded like too much work for us so I bowed my head to see what would happen. To my surprise he smirked.

"A follower?"

Jackpot. It's a story quest, after all. "Yes. I have come seeking the power of the Gaia Key!"

He instantly jumped onto the courtyard with a loud thud, cracking the ground beneath him. "The Gaia are my enemies. The light of Gaia destroyed everything dear to me. Why would you seek the power to destroy me if you are truly a follower?"

I started breathing heavily as I gulped. Pulling down my mask, I spoke to him directly. "I seek to control Azuria."

"Control? Control of Azuria should belong to me!" He hit his chest with his fist which gave out a loud clang, startling Arryn a bit. "Belenus and the church took everything from me! I shall be the one to take everything from them!"

"Then let me help you." I smiled.

"Jayce…" Arryn shivered behind me as Kage stepped forward.

"Jayce, what are you doing?" He asked. I glanced at him for a second before he stepped back, remembering what I told them before.

"Help me how?" The Dark Lord asked.

"You need a gateway to Azuria, don't you? You need a way out of this hell?" Stepping back, my blue Aura surrounded me as my eyes glowed the same color. "I am a Creator. With my power, I have collected two Gaia Keys and I'm planning on collecting the rest. I can make you a teleport crystal that can send you to Azuria where you are free to do as you please."

He stared at my glowing hands with a look of surprise in his red eyes before nodding. "Very well. And what might you want in return, Creator?"

"The Gaia Key you hold." I glanced over to the pentagram at the center of the courtyard.

"Take it. It only brings me harm anyway."

The two of us waved our hands as a blue crystal started forming behind me while, simultaneously, a black diamond rose out of the pentagram. We each went our separate ways and retrieved our treasures.

"As a bonus, my dark follower…" The Dark Lord turned around to face me. He waved his hand once more as a dial looking relic fell into my other hand. It had five glowing sections. "This is my dial empowered by my blessing. I have sought to destroy the Gaia Keys once before to prevent Belenus from creating another council. But if what you say about yourself is true, Creator, then I believe the keys will rest within good hands."

With a flash, he was gone. Arryn and Kage ran up to me as I put the black Gaia Key into my inventory. My eyes widened as I stared at the dial in my hand.

Arryn was the first to speak. "Jayce, why did you-"

"They already have the green one!"

"The green?" She asked.

"There." I pointed at the glowing light. "Damn it!"

"Wait. Does that thing show us where the Gaia Keys are?" Kage proceeded to tap one of the other sections which revealed the location of another key.

"It would seem so." Packing up the dial, I started moving out of the courtyard. "Arryn, Kage, let's get moving we're running out of time."

"But what about the Dark Lord?" Arryn stopped me. "You just gave him a path to Azuria! Why would you do that?!"

Turning around, I rubbed my nose. "Look, once I'm admin, I'll just delete him okay?! This was the easiest way to get the black Gaia Key! Plus, this might cause some commotion among the players, giving us a chance to snag up the rest of the keys! And then we're going to have to think about how we'll grab the green key from the players that have it! Maybe we'll have to-"

I stopped as soon as she wrapped her arms around me. "I think it's time for a break, Jayce."

My arms slowly raised to hug her back but instead, I pushed her away. "We don't have time for that, Arryn."

"Dante-kun…"

* * *

"Reinhardt…" This was the first time I've seen Orha is surprised, I mean we all were. Pulling out my tachi, I pointed it at the big bad.

"Sorry, Azuria's not for sale."

"Pitiful Envoy." He swung his sword horizontally in a quick flash, knocking all of us back. A couple of NPC's also got caught within the area of effect and we're pushed back as well. Getting back up, I watched as a dark Aura surrounded the area around him, spawning monsters of darkness that looked like they were reptilian skeletons with scimitars made out of obsidian.

"This event is getting crazier and crazier by the minute!" Daize took out his bow and fired a shot at Reinhardt who reacted quickly and deflected it with his long-sword. As he did, his health bar appeared above him as well as his level.

"Level 100?!" I gasped. Our levels were high but compared to him, we were ants but it wasn't the first time we faced something impossible like this. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the rest of the players.

"Is that a boss?"

"He can't be level 100!"

"Why would they send a strong boss here of all places?!"

"There's no way we can beat him!"

We heard whispers from the players nearby who were hesitant to engage since most of them were of a lower level. Helonia Coast was one of the earlier areas in the game, after all.

"Hey! We could use a little help here!" M shouted at the crowd who flinched in return. Besides us in the middle, there was no one else standing in between Reinhardt and the town of Helonia.

"Daize, Soran, you know we can't beat him unless I use Enhance. Even then, I don't know if I can…"

Our knight suddenly rushed to the front and slammed his shield down onto the ground. "Don't worry, I'll be your shield, Wairuzu!"

"Hey, don't wuss out on us now, great Ronin!" Daize grinned even if we might be facing a fight we cannot possibly win. I always found that annoying but I also wanted to smile like that. Nodding, I swung my tachi to the side as a big grin formed in my face.

"Alright then! Listen up, if the rest of you want to sit and watch then do so!" I shouted to the players around us. "You guys just see what we can do!"

As Reinhardt approached with his army, all five of us huddled together and prepared to face his wrath. All of a sudden, a stray arrow hit him on his shoulder as he angrily glared at an Archer on the roof of the Inn.

"Get out of this town!" He yelled as the rest of the crowd cheered. They got more and more riled up with each cheer until a mob had surrounded the Dark Lord himself.

"If you Envoys will be so uncooperative, then I shall crush you all!" Waving his hand forward, he sent the dark skeletons towards us. We yelled back as we charged forward with all out might. Swords clashed and spells were cast as the battle started. Weaving in between the mob, I spun around and managed to cut one of their heads off before proceeding to disarm another and stab it in the chest. Reinhardt himself was a couple of feet away from me, effortlessly parrying players' swords and sending red bolts of lighting down onto them with every hit which sent them back to the spawn point. All of a sudden, I received a notification. In these circumstances, I would have ignored it and kept fighting but my eyes caught the particular orange text that read:

 ** _'Save Azuria.'_**

* * *

 **Ending: Shirushi by LiSA**

* * *

 **Next Episode: The Dark Lord**


	18. Episode 18: The Dark Lord

**Episode 18: The Dark Lord**

"Yes, mommy. They're in his room." The door slightly creaked as she peered inside. The little girl held her phone closer to her ear as she gazed at the boys who were passed out. "They're... sleeping?"

* * *

 **Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

Sparks burst as my tachi clashed with his long-sword. Red lightning flew around us as we continued to parry each other's blows. However, his force was way too strong. With one swing, he managed to send me skidding backwards. I wanted to use Enhance but I knew that if I did, I wouldn't last very long. After all, I still don't know how to properly control it.

"You are all fools to believe in the Church of Gaia!" Reinhardt rushed forward with a trail of red bolts as he took one big swing. As I intercepted the hit, another sword swept over to defend me. Beside me, I found Mac and his golden pirate hat standing beside me. We both pushed back as the Dark Lord jumped away.

"Good to see you again, old friend." He told me.

"Hey, they finally updated your dialogue!"

"Helonia Coast doesn't belong to you, monster! That goes for the rest of this world!" Mac swung his sword around and pointed it at the Dark Lord. If the people who made this event were aiming for a dramatic effect, then they definitely achieved it.

"Hey, Wairuzu!" Daize dropped down beside me as Mac clashed with Reinhardt. "Do you think you could message a certain Sorcerer? We could really use her now!"

"I'm on it." Running to cover, I swiped down the menu and started typing my message before hastily pressing send. "Come on, Megumi…"

* * *

"Hm…" My eyes glossed over the paragraph that I had written. Was it too much? Probably, but it had encompassed everything I wanted to say to him… or maybe it was stupid to even do this. He might just ignore the invite like he ignored my messages back then. Yet, I'm not so sure. I did want to clear things up before I leave but I didn't know how. All of a sudden, another message popped up. It was a message from Wairuzu.

 ** _Wairuzu: 'Log in ASAP! Dark Lord is invading and we could use your help! TnxPls!'_**

Smirking, I replied.

 ** _Megumi: 'You guys are useless without me, aren't you?'_**

Shaking my head, I deleted the message I had spent almost an hour to compose and instead replaced it with a simpler one.

 ** _Mariko Amari: 'Meet tomorrow afternoon at my shrine. We need to talk.'_** With a little hesitation, I pressed send and went over to take my NerveGear out. After all, it was easier to say what needed to be said face-to-face.

* * *

"Gaia's Wrath!" Orha fired a large bolt of light at Reinhardt who managed to block it with his dark sword. He retaliated by sending a barrage of red lightning onto us. We scrambled to avoid it as another blast knocked us off our feet. The number of players that were fighting was dwindling now. They had managed to keep the lizard skeletons away from us but none of them dared to go near the Dark Lord himself.

"Die!" Another wave of lightning came flying towards us, this time in the form of a straight bolt. Soran immediately rushed to the front and held his shield out. The bolt burst into a blinding light as he held his ground.

"Get up, guys! We can do this!"

We nodded as we took our health potions which were running out at this point. Leading the charge, Soran rammed into Reinhardt and knocked him off balance as M and I swept in, dealing a couple of slashes before Orha and Daize fired their projectiles at him. Mac followed up and slashed at the Dark Lord with his sword before pulling out a flintlock and blasting him in the face with it. Reinhardt stumbled back as we breathed heavily. His health bar had barely gone down while we were rapidly using potion after potion.

"You are but frail creatures compared to my power!" With a loud yell, red lightning surged around him as we took a step back.

"Guys! Stop him before he-" Before Orha I could finish, a bright light enveloped us.

"Gaia's Protection!" The lightning blast ricocheted off of the shield that had formed around the Dark Lord as our one and only Sorcerer arrived on the battlefield.

"Missed me?"

"Megumi!" Soran raised his shield to wave at her as she gracefully charged up a couple of light balls around her.

"Took you long enough." I said with her at my side.

"Sorry, had to deal with some real life stuff." With a wave of her hand, the projectiles around her flew towards Reinhardt in a flurry. He proceeded to raise his sword at us as electric bolts shot out and destroyed each ball flying towards him. The rest of us immediately charged, leaving the Sorcerer and I behind.

"You know, we could probably end this quicker if you used Enhance." Megumi told me as she recoiled from her spell.

"I-I can't..." Gritting my teeth, I held my sword up and tried not to shake it too much. "I can't control it. I'll pass out before we even put a dent in him."

"Jayce was able to control his skill before."

"Oh, gee thanks, Megumi." I blankly stared at her with dead eyes.

"I mean, think, you idiot. How did he control it?"

Thinking back, he seemed pretty calm when using his power. Even if it seemed like he was wearing off, he acted like he was fine. All the times I ever used Enhance, I was enraged or at least extremely emotional. This was probably why I get drained so easily.

"Take this!" M brought his scythe down onto the Dark Lord only to be parried away effortlessly. Soran tried his best to block incoming lightning strikes but was only pushed back by the blast. Daize, Orha, and Mac were struggling to dodge the bolts while also trying to find an opening with their ranged attacks.

"Fishing." Megumi said out of nowhere as she stared at M who pulled back with his scythe.

"Fishing?"

"It's like when we fished!"

 _"You're probably using too much force"_ My mind went back to that exact moment of us sitting side-by-side at the edge of the lake. _"If you use too much force when reeling the fish in, the tension will snap the line. It's all about finding a balance between pulling and letting the fish pull back."_

"Balance the line…"

"Ugh, I'm sorry it's not the best analogy but-"

"It helps." Smiling I readied my tachi. "Enhance!"

Orange flames erupted around me as my eyes glowed the same color. The Aura flowing through me went into the sword I held, making it stronger than ever before. Turning to the Sorcerer, I spoke.

"I'll distract Reinhardt, can you heal the others?"

"Leave it to me!" For a second there, just as she left to go help the others, her eyes sparkled at mine. Without hesitation, I leaped into action and brought my sword down onto the Dark Lord who lazily raised his own.

"When will you Envoys ever lea-" To his surprise, my attack was far stronger than he had anticipated, making him grab the other end of his sword with his other hand. He shifted back as our blades parted. "You…"

"Just take my advice, dude. Go home."

"Finally, a worthy opponent." His feet moved him forward at a faster rate than before. Had he been holding back this entire time? I struggled to parry his blows, each one faster than the last. We moved around the town in a flurry of slashes that gave off orange and red sparks. Building shattered and streets crumbled as our blades clashed. Landing on a rooftop, I panted heavily as I tried to regain my composure.

 _'Calm, swordsman… calm.'_ With one deep breath, I leaped back into the battle and met with Reinhardt's sword.

"Enough playing around!" Red lighting shout out around him and knocked me back into a wall. The debris crumbled on top of me as I struggled to get back up. "You will not stop me from having my revenge!"

From the rubble, a blast of orange energy knocked Reinhardt back. He grunted as I stepped forward with my tachi held tightly in my hands.

"Who gives a shit?!" Screaming, I spun around and delivered slashes to match his speed. Our swords became blurrier and blurrier as I sped up. One mistake, one miss is all that it took to catch him off guard. With one quick swipe, my tachi went across his shoulder and down his torso. He stepped back in pain as he absorbed all that damage but I wasn't done. Leaping onto the air, I spun around until a large group of orange energy formed around me.

"Crescent Slice!" I shouted as I released all that pent up energy, sending the Dark Lord crashing through the town. As I breathed heavily, I let go and deactivated my skill.

"Wairuzu!" Daize came up to me along with the rest of my friends. Megumi, in particular was smiling brightly.

"Hey…" Sheathing my sword, I walked towards them with a slight limp. Looking around, it seemed as though the dark skeletons' numbers were dwindling as the rest of the players fought to protect this town.

"You alright, dude?" Soran asked.

"Yeah… but this is far from over." We made our way through the path Reinhardt had carved until we found his body along with Mac who was standing over it.

"Dead?" I asked.

"No, unconscious." The Pirate King said as he pulled out his flintlock and pointed it at the Dark Lord's head. "Not for long."

All of a sudden, Reinhardt's red eyes shot open as he leaped up onto a nearby house. Ominously, glaring at us with his back turned, he spoke.

"We shall meet again, swordsman." With that, he and what had remained of his army left in a bolt of red lightning.

M cursed under his breath. "We were so close! We could have defeated the final boss in the game!"

"I don't think the developers intended for us to kill Reinhardt this early in the game's life." Orha said.

"Still, good job, guys! You did alright by my side!" Daize boasted with his hands proudly on his hips.

"Hey, who's the one who kicked Reinhardt's ass, again?" I sheepishly mocked the Archer as Soran and Megumi laughed. After that battle, what we needed was a break. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

"Aaaaah!" A man's scream came from the square. We rushed over there to find another player with his dual swords out, standing over the blue shards that were once another player.

"Hey, PVP is enabled!" He shouted at his friends who were cheering as they pulled out their weapons as well.

"Oh no."

* * *

As we returned to the guild hall, Arryn wasted no time trying to get me to stop playing.

"Jayce, I'm serious. Don't you think you've been playing to much recently?"

"No I'm not, Arryn. I've been following your schedule, what else do you want?" I spoke as I walked and sifted through different messages coming in. We were getting different reports regarding the location of the other Gaia Keys. After I had sent screenshots of the clues that came from the dial, finding the rest of them was just a matter of time. I was going to head to my room to study the messages when Arryn immediately rushed in front of me and blocked the passageway I was about to enter with her arms raised.

"You know what I mean, Jayce! I'm just worried about you!"

"Don't be. I told you I'm-"

"Jayce!" A certain Dark Ravager came up to us with his menu out.

"What's the news, Kage?"

"Reinhardt himself just attacked Helonia Coast."

"Who?" I tilted my head.

"The Dark Lord. The one you gave the teleport crystal to."

"Ah yes…" Another problem I had the burden of fixing. "What's the damage?"

"The players there managed to fend them off but that left the town in ruins."

"Damn it… this world's already going to hell." Pulling out the dial I had received from Reinhardt, I glared at the green light which was a reminder that we had let one of the keys go. "Send Richter and his team to fetch the keys we know of. Rai should be able to find them easily. I will take care of the green Gaia Key."

"Jayce." Kage paused before heading out. "Do me a favor. Listen to my sister for once."

I felt Arryn's hand intertwine with mine as she lay her head on my shoulder. Her green hair brushed up against my cheek as I leaned back. "You go and rest, please. I'll get the green key for you."

"Are you sure you're capable of that? You know what lengths we have to go through if we are to succeed. I'm afraid you're going to hate yourself even more if you do this." Arryn was always uneasy about doing the dirty work that we had to do over the course of this game. Everything I had done was for us, she understood that but asking her to stoop down to my level? I didn't want her to do that again.

"I can do it. For us, right?" She wrapped her arms around my neck and stared into my eyes. I closed the gap between us and met her lips with mine. They were sweet, even in a virtual world. If only I could do this with her in real life again.

"Alright." I said, pulling away. "I trust you. Just know that whatever happens, I will be by your side."

"Always?"

"Always."

* * *

 **"Right now the hot topic everyone's talking about is the recent downfall of Aura Kingdom Online, the debut VRMMO that was supposed to usher in a new console generation with the release of the AmuSphere!"**

A virtual idol wearing a white top along with a pink skirt was standing in front of various video footage of what looked like the aftermath of the battle of Helonia Coast. I sat on my chair with my feet up as I watched along with Shimpei and Genji who were on my bed. The live-stream itself was being projected by the AuraSphere right in front of our faces.

 **"Recent news is that the latest event destroyed a well known map and turned it into a PVP zone! How inconsiderate of them, right?! Anyhoos, most of the community have already spoken against this outrage and here's what they had to say."**

 ** _"I bought this game thinking it was going to be a smooth experience but so far, all I've seen are bare-bone NPC'S and bad grind mechanics."_**

 ** _"Why the hell would you drop a level 100 boss in the middle of a town populated by newbies?!"_**

 ** _"Reinhardt kicked our asses. Even that one group of strong players weren't able to stop them."_**

"Hey, that's us!" Shimpei grinned as footage of us played on the screen. From a passer-by's perspective, we looked kind of cool fighting the Dark Lord. It wasn't long before footage of me fighting him one-on-one played.

 **"We even have rumors that some players have resorted to hacking to gain an edge on others. The length people will go through to get their ways! Hmph!"** She crossed her arms and let out a big pout.

"Hacker…?" Sighing, I decided I wanted to clear up that point. Exiting the live-stream, I dialed her number again.

"Hiro? Who are you calling?" Genji asked me.

"Someone who can give me answers." It took a few tries before she eventually gave in.

"What do you want Takamura-kun?"

"Sakiyama-san!"

"If this is about AKO then you might as well hang up now. I told you…"

"What the hell is going on over there?!" I got straight to the point.

"Excuse me?"

"Why did a level 100 boss appear in the middle of a low level town? Is this all a part of the event?"

"Takamura-kun, I'm going to hang up."

"Please!" I shouted. At this point, I was sick and tired of all the secrets she was keeping. I understand that they're the ones running the game so keeping secrets is a natural thing but I was sick and tired of being in the dark.

"You say you want the game to succeed. That you would do what you could to do so..." I knew I was pushing my boundaries but at this point, I couldn't care less. "...why? Why are you destroying my uncle's work?"

Silence came from the other end as I heard her clear her throat. "Takamura-kun, let me assure you, everything RECT has done for the game have been intentional. What RECT had not accounted for was the base game that was made by your uncle. I can tell you right now that that game you have in your AuraSpheres is reacting in a strange way to the quests we created. I don't even know how your uncle managed to program such a complex system."

My mouth wavered as I tried to find the right questions. Did my uncle really do such a thing? Was he capable of it?

"Takamura-kun, I will be honest with you in one regard: the company is not responsible for Reinhardt's appearance in Helonia Coast." I was surprised that she even knew AKO terms. "We were as shocked as you were at that and the fact that it is diminishing the player base of the game. With the release of the new VRMMO's, competition is tough. Don't you think we're doing the best we can do?"

"I-I'm sorry…"

Somehow, I heard a smirk come from the other end. "Listen, we're doing our part but you also need to do yours."

"What...?" My voice trailed off. It felt like she knew what my role in all this was. After all, I was the one who was tasked with saving the entire world of Azuria.

"Takamura-kun, good luck." With those words of encouragement, she hung up. Sighing, I glanced back at the other two who were still blankly staring at the same live-stream. I actually felt hungry at that point so I exited the room with them barely noticing. Outside, a small gremlin stood in between me and the first floor.

"What?"

"I'm hungry, Big Brother!" She puffed her cheeks.

Groaning, I gave in. "If I feed you, will you go away?"

"Only if you make your scrambled eggs!" Her grin stretched across her face.

"Hey, I don't make that just for anyone." Crossing my arms, I shook my head.

"Please…" She tried her best to act cute and all.

"Only if you never tell Mom and Dad I left the house and brought my friends here."

"Deal!" Our hands met as we shook on it.

* * *

As my sister munched on her egg sandwich, I took a bite out of mine. This recipe was actually pretty versatile. No wonder it made for a great cram food for my uncle. I swiped through my AuraSphere's notifications as I ate. It didn't take long for me to notice one text.

 ** _Mariko Amari: 'Meet tomorrow afternoon at my shrine. We need to talk.'_**

"She wants to meet up, huh?"

"What was that?" My sister raised her head.

"N-nothing. Just eat." Being careful not to let my thoughts out of my head, I read the message again.

 _'Shrine?'_ I noticed that that was the same shrine mentioned in the previous message she sent. A farewell party meant she was moving away. Good. However, there was a part of me that wanted to see her again just to relive the era when we used to talk one more time. _'I guess I have time tomorrow afternoon.'_

The sound of the door opening and closing interrupted my thoughts as my parents walked into the house. My mom, in particular, had that same angry look on her face.

"Hiro, did you leave Rin alone in the house?!"

"Hey, we had a deal!" I immediately turned to my sister who had a smug look on her face.

"I told Mom before we made the deal so it's fair."

 _'This is what I get for being nice…'_

"Hiro!" She called my attention again as Shimpei and Genji peeked from the upper floor. With my mom's sixth sense, she turned around and completely changed her personality. "Oh! Sotomura-kun and Matsuo-kun!"

"Hello again, Hiro's mom." Genji waved.

"It's been a while, you two should definitely stay for dinner!"

"Looks like we get free food after all…" Shimpei smiled as he whispered.

* * *

Dinner time came around as Genji and Shimpei sat awkwardly at our table. My mom had made mashed potatoes with meatloaf so for them, it was a rare sight.

"The food is delicious!" Genji smiled as he chewed.

"Thank you, Sotomura-kun. How's your mother?"

"She's doing fine, thank you very much! She may be old but she never shows it."

My dad was the next to speak. "Matsuo-kun, I heard that your brother got into one of the top Universities in Japan. Congratulations!"

I almost forgot Shimpei even had a brother. Hearing about him, a genuine smile formed on his face. "Thank you. He's really amazing."

"Speaking of which, do you boys have any idea where you want to go for college?" My mom asked.

"I think it's too early to think about that, don't you?" I said sheepishly. To be honest, I barely had time to think about high school.

"It's never to early to think about your future, Hiro. Didn't you plan to go to the same college Uncle RJ went to?"

"That… that was a long time ago." Before he left us.

"Oh… I'm sorry I brought him up. It's just been so hard to get him out of our minds lately."

"Did you ever find out what happened to him?" Shimpei carefully toned down his voice. He could tell she was sensitive about the topic.

"I'm afraid not. I really miss my little brother." A small glimmer came from her eye as she shed a tear. "But we all have to move on from this incident while honoring his wishes. It's what he would've wanted."

"I wish you the best, then." Genji smiled.

"Thank you."

* * *

I stood outside my house with the guys as I bid them farewell. The sun was already setting so they had to get back home.

"See ya next time, Hiro!" Shimpei waved as he and Genji started walking.

"Hey guys!" I considered asking them about Mari's message and whether or not I should go to the party she invited me to.

"Yeah?" They turned around. As they did, I reconsidered my request. After all, I never really told them much about what had happened between me and that girl.

"N-nevermind. Goodbye." I immediately went back into the house and rushed to my room. Inside, I picked up my AuraSphere and put it on, accessing the message system of AKO. I just needed someone to help me get this off my chest.

* * *

"That's a tough one…" Megumi leaned back on the roof of one of the many houses in Port Skandia. I was also leaning back as we sat there. After Helonia Coast fell, Port Skandia was our substitute safe zone since a house in Navea costs way too much for our earnings. "This person you don't talk to, is it a boy or a girl?"

"A… boy." I decided to lie since I was already embarrassed to talk about my situation.

"Why don't you talk to him anymore?"

"Because… he found new friends and left me."

"Are you sure? Have you even confronted him about it?" Her purple hat bounced a little as she turned her head.

"No…"

"Then what's wrong with confronting him now? This can be your chance to clear things up."

"I know but… it's hard." Gazing at the moon, I sighed.

"You know, I'm also in a similar situation."

"You are?"

"Yeah. I know it's hard but… it's something you have to do, you know?" She gave me a bright smile. "Especially if that person is important to you."

"Is… is that person important to you?" I asked as her face turned red. I found it kind of adorable, actually.

"Wha- Um! I… I guess. I mean, I liked talking with him a lot back then so it would be nice if we could do that again." The Sorcerer said as she twiddled her thumbs. "H-how about you? Is this guy important to you?"

Pausing, I watched the people walking past us below. Many of them were doing mundane tasks or just using the time to hang out. My eyes were caught by a two players happily conversing underneath the moonlight. The male Shinobi was scratching his head as he spoke with the female Wizard. It reminded me of back then when I was able to smile like that.

"Yes… yes he is."

* * *

 **Ending: Shirushi by LiSA**

* * *

 **Next Episode: The Last Key**


	19. Episode 19: The Last Key

**Episode 19: The Last Key**

My green hair swayed in the wind as I leaned against a hastily built wooden hut. Krok Village, a simple NPC settlement, sat underneath the thick canopy of Oblitus Wood. The leaves were so thick that they almost blocked out the sun entirely, leaving only a faint green glow coming from the sun hitting the leaves. A couple of players wandered around doing mundane tasks, chatting with each other all the while as I scanned the area. I was hoping that things would go smoothly without any complications but, somehow, I already knew that that wasn't going to be the case. Making my way down the street, I entered a large tent that was considerably spacious for it's size. All my sources had led me here, the last known location of the guild who supposedly had the green Gaia Key. Multiple players were coming in and out of the tent while at the center sat a red haired Wizard who was behind a desk. She was busy talking with the man who was the first in line while simultaneously navigating through her menu like she was inputting something. This made me wonder what sort of business they were running here. After the man had left, the Wizard pulled out a sign that read _'Closed'_.

"Sorry, folks! Orders are full! Thank you for choosing the Midnight Owls for your questing needs!" They were apparently being personally assigned player-made quests like the ones posted on the notice board. I assumed it must have been their way of fulfilling the guild upkeep. Approaching her, I swallowed my fears and anxieties down my throat. If we are to achieve what we want in AKO, we need to have the guts to do what needs to be done. Jayce taught me this a long time ago; I just wish it were that easy.

"Sorry miss, we have our hands full." The Wizard's crimson eyes highlighted her smile as she spoke to me.

"Oh… um. I was just looking for a certain item."

"An item quest? We have a lot of those on hand currently but if you make a quest for us, I can add it to our to-do list. It should take a few days tops."

"Okay then." I gave her my best smile even if it was fake. "Then are you capable of finding Gaia Keys?"

"Oh..." A disheartened look fell upon her face. "I'm sorry, we don't do legendary items, especially something as important as that. Heck, we barely managed to retrieve one of them for ourselves yesterday."

 _'So it is them…'_

"You really have one of those things? How'd you manage that?"

"Junko, our leader, found a dungeon that housed it while we were out looking for a base, that's all. We were lucky to escape with it intact; the monsters there sure were tough." She chuckled at the thought.

"I see… so you guys are planning to have this Junko become one of the council members of AKO?"

"Yup! Maybe then our quest business will grow to the point where everyone in the server will want to give us more work."

"That sounds like a nice dream." I complimented her as she nodded.

"Thanks for the chat, miss but I believe I need to get back to my guild." Standing up, the Wizard pushed her chair forward and stretched her arms while yawning.

"Wait, this isn't your guild base?" I asked, realizing that my suspicions were wrong.

"Huh? No, this is just an outpost where we take orders. Our base is located within a secluded area that's top secret so I'm afraid I can't tell you." She grinned as her finger shot towards me. "But it was fun talking with you miss! See ya around!"

Waving goodbye, I watched disappointingly as she left the tent. Fortunately, this was the perfect opportunity to follow her. Of course, I had to be unnoticed the entire time. Unfortunately for me, the houses and structures in the village were too low for me to hide on but on the other hand, there were the trees. At first, I had difficulty scaling such a tall bark but after combining most of my jumping and mobility skills, I managed to reach a high enough branch that still gave me a clear view of the Wizard. To my surprise, she started heading out into the wild area.

 _'Did they actually build their base out there?'_ There was only one way to find out. With a graceful kick of my legs, I sent myself flying to the next branch and then the next. As a Duelist, my mobility was one of my strongest assets and they certainly came in handy during stealth missions. It didn't take long before she stopped in front of a tree which had a larger girth than the rest. Knocking four times on a seemingly random area of the roots, a secret entrance opened up and closed shortly as she entered. Dropping down, I examined the entrance. I wasn't sure if someone had opened the door after hearing a specific amount of knocks or if it was just a form of an electronic locking mechanism the game implemented. Testing my luck, I knocked four times which made the doors immediately open.

 _'I guess it was an in-game lock after all.'_ The interior of the tree was bigger than I had anticipated with a brightly lit spiral staircase leading up. I could hear the faint sound of voices coming from above as I climbed the steps. Hiding behind the corner, I found my Wizard along with three other players gathered around a strange looking white cube at the center of the room. One of them had a scythe on his back. It also seemed to me like he was currently the center of attention.

"What do we have this time, Nairi?" He asked the Wizard.

"Give me… four silver swords."

After hearing the order, the Reaper class player swiped through his menu. It looked a little weird to me since it was black instead of blue with white text scattered across it. In an instant, four swords plopped themselves onto the floor below him.

 _'Spawning hacks?!'_

"Okay, what next?"

"Oh, do a ruby staff!" Another player with silver gauntlets laughed.

"I think the ID is somewhere here…" Before he could navigate through his menu again, I stepped forward and shouted at them.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"What?" He immediately closed the screen he had opened.

"You?! Did you follow me?!" The Wizard held her staff close to her chest.

"You're spawning items?! Is that how you got the Gaia Key?!" It seemed as though my deduction was correct as they all shut their mouths and glared at me with serious eyes.

The Reaper simply smirked. "So what if we did? What are you going to do? Report us?"

They laughed knowing that AKO had no admins to govern the server. Clenching my hands into a fist, I glared back at them.

"You're cheating! You don't deserve that Gaia Key!"

"Hey, lady. Just walk out of here while you still can." A woman with a great-sword scoffed at me with her deep voice while brushing her long pink hair with her hand.

"I was lucky to find an item exploit here. Can you believe they just left an administrative console here of all places?" The scythe wielder continued. "We thought we deserved at least one key since these things were so rare."

"You don't deserve any of them…" Pulling out my dual swords, I pointed one at him menacingly. "None of you do!"

"You want to fight us? All by yourself?" The Reaper laughed as he navigated through his menu and clicked on an option. "Alright, I've turned on PVP in our base. Come on and try!"

With a single step, I sped into their group and spun around in a single flurry, separating them from each other. The pink haired girl was the first to bring her holy sword down as I parried it to the side and kicked her in the face. Catching the gauntlets of the Brawler, I twisted my blades and leaped over him, striking the Reaper across the chest. Fighting physical attackers was pretty simple for me to get used to but that meant that my weakness was magic. Unfortunately, a stray spell struck me and sent my flying across the room. Attempting to stand up, I found myself unable to do so.

 _'Paralysis! Of course it had to be paralysis!'_

With what I could hear, the rest of them were laughing as footsteps approached me. Using what was left of my movement, I slowly turned my head to the Reaper who was standing above me with a grin on his face.

"That's the thing with high level players like you. You're always too cocky when it comes to fights. I'll admit it though, you did quite a lot of damage to me." Raising his scythe, he prepared to deliver the final blow but before he could, a glowing blue sword drove into his chest and impaled him onto the floor.

"What?!" He shouted, gasping for air.

 **"Get away from her!"** A deep, distorted voice stepped forward as my eyes adjusted to the glow.

"Jayce?!"

He had his mask on as his eyes glowed blue. **"Don't worry. Leave them to me."**

* * *

 **Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 ** _Richter: 'We've retrieved one so far. Moving onto the next as I type.'_**

Reading through the messages, I laid back down on my bed. Ari told me to take a break from gaming so that's what I was doing. I told myself this as I replied to Richter's report.

 ** _Jayce: 'Thank you, Richter. I'm glad you're on our side.'_**

Exhaling, I stared at the ceiling. I knew I had to get the Gaia Keys at all costs but was unleashing the Demon Lord upon the server the best move? The way he spoke to me confirmed that I had indeed chosen my side in the fight between the light and dark.

 _'I'm working with the bad guy in order to save AKO…'_ Shaking my head, I kept the end goal in mind. It didn't matter what I did. As long as I can make Azuria a paradise for Ari and Akira, I would be happy.

Checking on the other messages coming from the guild members, I found out that Wairuzu and his friends had succeeded in driving the Demon Lord from Helonia Coast. However, it wasn't like there weren't any repercussions. Unfortunately, that entire area had turned into a PVP zone due to some glitch that occurred when the Dark Lord himself invaded. Now, people were up in arms since the low levels lost one of their first towns to player killers.

"Chaos…" The one element only I can correct. My eyes drifted to a message that just popped up. It was from Ari.

 ** _Arryn: 'Just arrived in Oblitus Wood. Will message you again once I have the Gaia Key.'_**

Will she really be okay by herself? During times like this, I would ask Akira to accompany her but unfortunately, he had a bedtime.

 ** _Jayce: 'Okay, tell me if you need backup. I'm serious.'_**

 ** _Arryn: 'I'll be fine. Stop worrying, jeez.'_**

Smiling, I stared at the ceiling once more. With only three Gaia Keys left to retrieve, my vision of a perfect world was coming to fruition. How I longed to live in that world and forget this one…

* * *

 **"It's people like you I hate."** Raising my hand, I pointed it at the remaining guild members as their leader disappeared in a blue flash. I'm glad I decided to log in and check on her. I was certainly surprised to find that the people who took the green Gaia Key were using an admin console to spawn items.

"Y-you're one of those hackers! What the hell kind of skill do you have?!" The Brawler pointed his finger at me in fear.

 **"So? What are you going to do? Report me?"** Opening my palms, I created multiple throwing knives and sent them flying towards the others. One by one, I threw the blades before the pink Crusader swung at my head with her sword. Strafing to the side, I created a gauntlet in my right hand and drove its blade through her chest. Spinning around, I formed a pistol in my other hand and managed to land a shot on the Brawler's head, killing him as well.

"Now, just one lef-" A fire-bolt came towards me as I created a shield to block the damage. Releasing my skill, I approached the frightened Wizard.

 **"I noticed your friends didn't have what we wanted. You had it all this time, haven't you?"**

"P-please! We just wanted to have fun…"

 **"So did we."** With a single motion, I drove a glowing spear through her chest and watched as she disappeared with the rest. Moving to the Duelist on the ground, I held out my hand and pulled down my mask. "Are you okay, m'lady?"

Arryn laughed at my stupid voice as I slowly helped her back up, the paralysis already wearing off. She then stumbled into my arms while smiling brightly.

"What are you doing doing here, you idiot? I thought I told you to rest." Her voice grew softer as she drove her head deeper into my chest.

"How can I rest when I'm worried about you? What were you thinking? A one on four fight is never a good idea."

"You do that all the time though. I thought…"

"I have Creator to back me up, you don't." Holding her tightly, I understood her situation. Arryn and Kage had always wanted to be as strong as I was ever since we started this game; I wanted them to be strong too. "But don't worry, I promise you that you will stand by my side when the time comes."

After consoling her, I proceeded to loot all the items off of the Gaia Cubes they left behind, including the special item we had worked so hard to attain. Glancing behind me, I found Arryn fiddling with the admin console the other players had used before to spawn items.

"You actually know how to work that thing?" I asked her.

"I think so… It's definitely a developer's console used to edit the game. I don't know why it was left in like this. Seems like a big oversight for the company to have." She quickly swiped across the screen and skimmed through everything the Reaper had typed in. "They weren't spawning items in the first place, it seems as though they input an item's ID number and transpose it from an existing entity."

"Which means…?"

"Well, this console doesn't have permission to edit the whole game, just this area. That's how they managed to get the Gaia Key without even entering the green dungeon."

"Huh, looks like you're learning a lot in Tokyo." I said while smiling gently. What I would give to be with her again.

"You know you can still join me." Her eyes met my gaze. "It's not too late. You can still attend a cram school and apply for my college."

"If only it were that easy…" Smirking, I scratched my head before turning my attention back to the console. "Hey Arryn, do you think we can use the console to retrieve the remaining Gaia Keys?"

She quickly glanced at me with a surprised look on her face after hearing that. "Y-you want us to cheat like they did?"

"Look around you, Arryn. We've met so many unruly people who aren't hesitating to run this game to the ground. The sooner I become admin, the sooner I can fix this game."

"B-but…" There was a clear picture of hesitation on her face so I decided to walk up to her and caress the side of her face. She was so unsure, so hesitant. What she needed was guidance.

"Please... for us."

* * *

"May I present his holiness, Grand Bishop Belenus!" A squire in white garb bowed as we entered the hallowed halls of the Church of Gaia. Being the central location of Navea, it had to be the most extravagant place in the game. Red tapestries were scattered across the white walls and ceiling while a very wide red carpet connected us to the Grand Bishop's fancy chair. The chair itself was made of gold and was accompanied by a golden cross statue. Both of them were surrounded by red curtains which draped all the way from the ceiling to the floor.

"You seek audience with me?" Belenus himself greeted us as he stood in front of his chair stroking his white beard With my arms crossed, I stepped forward. I had been tasked with the quest to save Azuria so the first thing I wanted to do was find Reinhardt and kick his ass but Orha along with Megumi advised that that was a terrible plan so we decided to scrounge up what information we could get in order to plan the next fight.

"What do you know about Reinhardt?" From what Orha had gathered from the forums, Reinhardt was connected to the Church of Gaia for some reason. Unfortunately no one knew how since the wiki still hadn't updated for that part.

"Who are you?" His eyes scanned our entire group from left to right.

"I am Wairuzu from the uh… nevermind." I didn't want to say our guild name out loud again.

"You come seeking the truth, I see. The truth being such a malleable object which Reinhardt had twisted to his favor, I presume."

"Actually, we don't know anything. That's why we're here."

"Very well..." With a single wave of his hand, a magical aura surrounded us as the room darkened. We gazed in awe as pictures started forming before our eyes. "The story of the Church's war with the Dark Lord begins right here in Navea."

"Oh boy, prepare for an exposition du-" M was abruptly shushed by Orha who never took his eyes away from the images being formed.

"Don't ruin this for me." He gazed at the picture of a black haired knight in armor that made Soran's look like cheap plastic.

"Reinhardt was once the commander of the Templars. He was the envy of all warriors far and wide for being the best of the best." Belenus waved his hand again to change the image to a young woman with long brown hair and shining red eyes. "Like every person, he fell in love with a woman named Luciana. This bond was so powerful that it made Reinhardt step down from his position just to live a domestic life with her."

"Let me guess, something bad happened to her." Daize yawned, obviously bored from the story as Megumi punched him in the arm to shut him up.

"Shortly after their marriage, a mysterious illness befell the lady and Reinhardt returned to the Templars to seek a cure." We saw a bedridden Luciana reach out to a fully armored Reinhardt who was leaving through the doorway. "He and his men searched and he searched but alas, a cure could not be found."

Belenus sighed before showing us an image of Reinhardt on his knees in front of the Grand Bishop himself. "So he came to me for help but even I was powerless to save her. Such an illness could not be cured by our top priests. She eventually passed away which turned Reinhardt into the hateful creature he is today who could only blame the Church, especially me, for failing to save his beloved. He started this war against us and we had no choice but to banish him to the realm of Pandemonium where he spent his days trying to find a way back to Azuria. We see now that we have failed."

The magic faded as our eyes adjusted to the light of the hall. Soran lowered his head after all that he had heard. "That's... a sad story."

"Until now, I have been dreading the day when Reinhardt would return. Now that that day is upon us, I must ask you Envoys for your help." As he closed his eyes, a quest screen appeared right in front of us. "You must go to Silent Ice Field and-"

All of a sudden Belenus' character model glitched and distorted itself. In fact, all of the NPC's around us were glitching out as well.

"Um, this isn't part of the quest, is it?" Megumi stepped back as she tried to press accept only to be met with error messages.

"What the hell is going on?" I walked up to Belenus to shake him out of this state but immediately stepped back when a small burst of electricity surged through my finger upon contact.

"Hey, guys!" We turned around to find M staring at the Gaia Key dial he had in his hands. "You might want to take a look at this!"

Previously, four lights were lit up while the others remained blank. Now, the other key lights were blinking as they turned on one by one. Slowly, the dial started filling up with glowing lights.

* * *

 **Ending: Shirushi by LiSA**

* * *

 **Next Episode: The Pond of Eternity**


	20. Episode 20: The Pond of Eternity

**Episode 20: The Pond of Eternity**

"So everything's going fine then?" I took a sip from my hot coffee which I had gotten from the break room before entering the IT servers.

"So far, there's a few bugs and such with the game but we're working on it. I gotta say, it would be much easier if we had actual admins to keep everything in check." Toru pushed up his glasses as he checked the various wires and cables connected to the mainframe of the computers. He scanned back and forth between them and the clipboard he held in his hands. "I just wish Langston-san made it easier for us to implement the admin system."

"Hey, it's his game. We have to respect his wishes, especially now that he's gone. It's a bit of work but I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Speaking of work, aren't you supposed to be in the legal department, Nami-chan?" He grinned at me as I took another sip.

"It's my break time." I knew I was going to be a few minutes late but the paperwork can wait.

"You're not even supposed to be in here..."

"Well, it's a good thing I have a friend from IT." Smiling confidently, I straightened my posture since the business attire I had to wear all day was chafing terribly.

"Minabuchi-senpai!" A young looking intern rushed into the server room calling out Toru's name. "There's a problem with the game!"

"What?" He rushed towards the door but not before facing me. "Forgive me, Nami-chan, duty calls."

As they exited the room, I was left to stare at all the blinking lights around me which were turning red one by one.

"What's going on…?"

* * *

 **Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

"Toru, you better tell me what the hell is going on." I approached him in the main office area as he spoke to some people who looked like they were part of tech support. They split up and rushed elsewhere after he finished.

"Someone's messing with the game's code. If we don't stop this, the entire server is going to go to hell." He started pacing back and forth, scratching his head like it was full of lice. "We could try to pinpoint the attacker and remove them from the system but that would take too much time…"

"Toru!" I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "You always freak out during important moments! Stop and think, what can we do that will stop this for sure!"

"If this continues, the final countermeasure is…"

* * *

Slowly but surely, the remaining Gaia Keyes formed right in front of me. The tree base around us had started glitching and freezing but that did not hinder the teleportation process.

"Jayce!" Arryn called out to me with a terrified look on her face. She still had the admin console open right in front of her as she spoke. "I think we should stop!"

"They're almost here! Just keep going!"

"Jayce, the server can't take a shift in programming like this!"

"The guild before us spawned a bunch of items before, this is no different!" They've been doing this for a long time, what difference would it make if we just spawned three Gaia Keys?

"These aren't just any items, these are questions items which a bunch of code and processes attached to them! Moving them elsewhere jumbles that up!" She started typing in the console once more as the second key formed. "I need to shut down the process!"

"No!" Rushing over, I grabbed her arms and held her back. "There's just one left!"

"Jayce, you're hurting me!"

 _'Come on!'_ The white diamond slowly materialized. As I glanced at the admin screen, I saw line of text that made me jump. I immediately lunged at the crystals in an attempt to grab them. As I did, everything went black.

 **[SERVER CONNECTION LOST]**

* * *

 **[SERVER CONNECTION LOST]**

I read those words again and again as I sat up on my bed. "How long do you think it'll take?"

"Toru, how long will the reboot take?" I heard Sakiyama's voice call out to someone who I assumed was right next to her. "About twelve hours or so. The servers should be up and running by tomorrow."

"I see, thank you Sakiyama-san."

"I gotta go, looks like I've got some paperwork to file for once. You should get some sleep."

"You're not my-" She cut off again. It's probably natural at this point. Taking my orange AuraSphere off, I placed it on the table beside me. The game had surely crashed because of some flaw in the system. I wondered what exactly caused it to do that. All of a sudden, I heard a ringtone come from my AuraSphere. Picking it up and putting it on, I accepted the call.

"Yo, guys. Is the game down for you too?" It was Shimpei. More dings sounded as other people joined the call.

"Game's down for me too." M or rather, Aki spoke with his real voice this time.

"Can't access the server at all…" Orh- Michi said in a voice that wasn't much far from his in game one.

"What do you think happened?" Genji asked softly.

"I swear if RECT messed something up…" I could imagine Aki as he curled his hand into an angry fist.

"Hey, Hiro. Do you think you could call that lady again?" Shimpei asked me.

"I did. She said that it should be back up by tomorrow." I had just noticed it was early morning.

"Tomorrow, huh?" Aki groaned. "By the way, Megumi isn't in the call, is she?"

"I invited her but she isn't picking up." Shimpei explained. She must've decided she was done for the night… that or she just wasn't that comfortable with us yet.

"We need to log back in as soon as possible. Last I checked, only one of the keys were left." Aki said as we all listened intently. "Hiro, if my suspicions are correct…"

"You think Jayce is behind this?" I answered him.

"If he is then why is he breaking the game? I thought he just wanted to control it?" Genji asked.

"I don't know but I think that's about enough for tonigh- er, morning so I'mma hit the hay. Let's try to log in as soon as the servers are back tomorrow." Aki immediately disconnected from the call.

"I'll try to check the forums for any updates." Michi yawned as he did the same.

"See you guys tomorrow then?" Genji asked us, the remaining two members.

"Of course, not like we have much to do during summer." Shimpei said as I remembered that I had a meeting set for tomorrow afternoon. I thought about telling them but just decided to shut up and hope the servers aren't back by that time.

"See you tomorrow then. Good night guys."

"Goodnight." We said in unison as we disconnected. Slumping back onto my bed, I groaned in exhaustion and went deep into my thoughts. My meditation, however, was interrupted by a message that came through. Clicking on it, I read it.

 ** _Megumi: 'Sorry I didn't join the voice call, too sleepy.'_**

Quickly, I typed my response and waited for a reply.

 ** _Wairuzu: 'It's fine. Didn't miss much. Servers are back tomorrow.'_**

It surprisingly didn't take long for her to respond.

 ** _Megumi: 'Tomorrow? Like tomorrow-tomorrow?'_**

 ** _Wairuzu: 'Yes. What other tomorrows are there?'_**

 ** _Megumi: '...'_**

 ** _Megumi: 'Might have something to do. If I can't make it, tell the guys alright?'_**

 ** _Wairuzu: 'Sure, but I don't know if I'm going tomorrow either.'_**

 ** _Megumi: 'We can both be deserters then :D'_**

Chuckling out loud, I felt my eyes get heavier.

 ** _Wairuzu: 'Aight. Good night then.'_**

 ** _Megumi: 'Good night, swordsman.'_**

Placing my AuraSphere back on the table, I turned to my side and felt my head sink into the pillow. Countless thoughts filled my head as I drifted off. I didn't know what I was going to say to her tomorrow, after all.

* * *

It was the afternoon when we got the message from M that the servers were back up. All of us logged in as soon as we saw those words and gathered outside the Church of Gaia where we had last been. All-in-all everything seemed fine until we tried going inside. A red barrier separated us from entering the church displaying the words 'Area Under Maintenance'.

"That sucks." Ruffling my blonde hair, I repeatedly tapped the barrier with my finger.

"It won't open no matter how much you poke it, Daize." M said, clearly unfaithful in my ability to poke.

"Have you heard anything from Megumi or Wairuzu?" Soran asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Probably off frolicking in some flower field or something." I suggested. It always felt like she was closer to him out of any of us this entire time.

"I'll try to message Megumi, Daize can you keep trying Wairuzu?" Soran said.

"Why do you get to message Megumi?"

"B-because… look just message them alright?"

I'd admit I was jealous if teasing them wasn't so fun. "Come on. Pick up, swordsman..."

* * *

 **A Little Earlier**

As I approached the shrine, I felt a vibration in the pocket of my black jacket. Even if the temperature was rising, I still didn't want to stray too far from my usual fashion since I never really felt comfortable in any other clothes. Hey, at least this jacket was sleeveless. Taking out my AuraSphere, I tucked both pieces comfortably on my ears.

 ** _Mnbbvb: 'Servers are back up! Meet at the Church of Gaia ASAP!'_**

 _'Damn it, why now?'_

Typing my reply, I was caught off guard by a familiar voice.

"I see you couldn't wait to get your hands on one of those things." There, right in front of me was the girl whose eyes used to sparkle so brightly. She wore a white summer dress with her hair tied back into a ponytail.

"You dressed up just to talk?" I tried my best to hide the blush on my face as I quickly took off my AuraSphere and put it back into my pocket.

"N-no… my aunt is taking me out today. I just thought I'd meet you before I go."

 _'Of course. I'm just in your way, aren't I?'_ Regaining my composure, I remembered why I had to keep my cool.

"Fine. You got my attention so let's talk." I said as I ignored the rest of the vibrations coming from my jacket.

* * *

"No reply from my end." Soran reported.

"None from me either." I replied. At that point, I was starting to think that they did ditch us to elope.

M let out a loud groan of distress as he stretched his arms. "Fine, we'll have to do this without them. Orha?"

Our intelligent Wizard stood behind us holding the artifact that had aided us thus far. "All of the lights have lit up except the white one. If we're going to grab a Gaia Key, this is our best bet."

He tapped on it and showed us the monochromatic image of the small pond surrounded by cherry blossoms and other beautiful flowers.

"Cool but where the heck is that place?" I asked as I peered into the image, deeply embedding it into my soul.

"That's the thing. No one knows. I've been up checking the forums and it seems like no one can tell where this image is from."

"Weird. It's strange for a company to give out an item that's impossible for the players to find." M scratched his chin.

"Impossible…" This was a word I repeated in my head. No matter what, no achievement in game is impossible. If this was a hidden area then there should be a way for players to find it lest it be classified as an Easter egg. The only other explanation would be…

"What if it's part of the story? No one bothered to continue the story quests like we did!" I suggested, secretly hoping that I was right.

"Yeah but we didn't get much out of Belenus. The main quest is bugged as of this point." M said.

"He said Silent Ice Field…" Soran quietly whispered before raising his voice. "Belenus told us to go to Silent Ice Field before glitching out. We may not have a quest marker but it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

"Hey, great thinking you little-!" I happily nuzzled the top of our Knight's head which made him let out a loud feminine squeal that made us all stop. "Okay… let's just forget that ever happened."

* * *

 **Silent Ice Field**

The landscape of this area was similar to Blizzard Berg only that the winds and snow were more chill, pun intended. Barren trees were scattered everywhere while our footsteps felt lighter as we walked through the thin sheet of snow that was covering a slightly grassy ground. I was in front, of course.

"Maybe we should double check each dungeon?" Soran suggested.

"That'll take ages…" M slumped over in exhaustion. "Orha, is there seriously no clue to where we're going?"

"Other than Belenus' quest? I'm afraid not."

"Aaaargh!" Ruffling my hair in frustration, I stopped in my tracks. "Guys, think! If there was a main quest set in a map like this, where would it-"

I immediately tackled Soran behind a tree as M and Orha hid as well, peering at what was beyond the treeline. Jayce stopped in his tracks as he stretched his arms.

"What the hell is he doing here?" I whispered out loud.

"More importantly, why are we hiding?!" M tried his best to lower his voice. "Four on one, we can take him!"

"May I remind you of what exactly we're dealing with?" We had previously briefed M and Orha regarding the incident that occurred in Star Sand Desert back when Helonia Coast was still intact. "M, you haven't seen what Jayce can do first-hand. Trust me, we can't take him!"

"Well, we can tr-" He shut up as soon as another figure with long white hair and black armor appeared. "Nevermind, hiding is good."

"Reinhardt? Jayce is working with him?" Orha clicked his tongue. "If only we knew what they were talking about."

"I may be able to help with that…" Pushing up my glasses with a large grin, my legs sprang me up into the branches. The trees here were that tall but they sure were tall enough to hide me. Jumping across, I moved in close enough to hear them talk.

"What exactly are we looking for, Dark Lord?" Jayce asked him.

"A bed of ice. The entrance to the pond is there." He answered as he walked past them. "Now stop asking any more questions, follower! I do not like being questioned!"

"Sheesh, alright." The blue Ronin hesitantly followed him. However, he suddenly turned around with his eyes glowing blue. I immediately hid behind the tree I was on as his eyes peered at my direction. After almost a minute had passed, I peered back. He and Reinhardt were now farther away. It didn't take me long to reach the guys at the back.

"They're definitely up to something. I heard Reinhardt say something about a pond."

"Pond? Interesting…" Orha paced back and forth, stroking his chin.

"Wait, the image on the dial!" M pulled out the artifact. At this point, we considered him as its keeper. "Yeah! This is a pond, isn't it?"

We stared back at the white key's image. It definitely looked like some sort of pond.

"This means we need to follow them. To arms men!" Turning around, I found the guys already on their way ahead of me. "Hey, wait up!"

* * *

"The shrine looks nice." I tried to find a conversation point to bring up as we strolled through the area. People around us were either working or making offerings, leaving us to roam freely.

"Thank you, my aunt is a clean freak. Try throwing trash on the ground and you'll definitely feel the full extent of her wrath."

"I remember all the times she would switch her personality when we forget to wash the plates." I unknowingly smirked as I said that.

"I hope you've gotten better at cooking now." She giggled as she held her hands behind her.

"Are you saying my scrambled eggs aren't good enough?"

"I'm saying you should branch out to more food. I ate a lot of scrambled eggs that summer." Mari was right, that was all I ever cooked at her house. I just never bothered to learn the more complicated stuff. "Besides, I bet they'd be delicious."

This continued until we reached the main hall. Beside the building sat the tallest tree there was in the shrine. Underneath its shade was a stone bench. The wind was nice and cool for a summer day here. It was nice to spend some time with her and talk about old memories… even if they were just that. Just memories.

* * *

"Oh that's just great." I cursed as the guys grouped up around me. We hid behind a rock made of ice while watching Jayce and Reinhardt stand in the middle of a lake of ice. There was no other cover in sight so we couldn't get close lest we reveal ourselves to them. It was a very frustrating situation.

* * *

"The portal should be… here!" Reinhardt shoved his hand into an invisible hole and pulled. I stood there watching impatiently as my feet shifted from the slippery ice. However, nothing happened.

"Um, something wro-"

"Silence! This should work!" The Dark Lord gritted his teeth and tried again. And again… but to no avail. "This is impossible! I'm the one who locked this portal!"

"Calm down, let me try." I stepped in as Reinhardt moved away. I've been through enough already and I just wanted my prize. Inserting my hand where he had, I pulled back. Still nothing. "Are you sure-"

"You dare question me again?!" He pointed his lightning sword at my neck as he yelled. His eyes were full of rage while his face changed into that of a demon's. Lowering his sword, he slashed at the invisible gate again and again, red lightning surging from every slash. "Let me in! Let me in, Belenus!"

* * *

"What's he doing…?" Soran whispered.

"He's fighting air?" I replied as Orha moved forward.

"That might be a hidden portal." He explained. "He screamed Belenus so I assume the Grand Bishop sealed it with magic."

"So there's no way to open the thing then?" M asked with a sigh.

"Canonically, Envoys of Gaia are imbued with the Church's power so, theoretically, we should be able to open it…" Orha continued.

"We just need an opening…" As if the universe aligned as I spoke those words, a flash of blue appeared from where they were.

* * *

"I am sick and tired of your bullshit!" I hit Reinhardt with a slash from the scythe I created. He retaliated with a barrage of lightning which I deflected with two shields

"Fool! You think you can withstand a battle against me?!" The Dark Lord charged towards me enraged. I met his blades with two of my own, parrying him and returning with a flurry of slashes. My damage output was less than satisfactory but that should be expected when you're fighting the Dark Lord himself.

"I imbued you with my power! You are my follower! You cannot hope to defeat me!" Reinhardt dished out multiple attacks which I had to guard with my dual swords.

"I can't wait to delete you!" I weaved above his blade and returned with a slash to his face. Following up with my other sword, I swiped up and hit him again. Releasing my swords, I created chains and bound them to his arms and legs. As I held him there, I glared at him with my blue eyes. "You have no power Reinhardt! You're nothing but a slave to the system you live in, a system I will soon control!"

As the Dark Lord relaxed, he started laughing. "A man like you doesn't deserve to rule."

Before I could punish him for his insolent words, I spotted something in the corner of my vision. Turning towards the portal entrance, I spotted the blonde Archer and his group standing where we were before, his hand inserted into the invisible hole.

"Don't worry! We'll take it from here!" The Archer waved at us with an annoying smile before disappearing into thin air.

"No!" I released the chains I had on Reinhardt and threw a great sword that went right through them and fell onto the ice, cracking it. "Get back here!"

* * *

"How are you?" She asked me as we sat side by side on the stone bench. "It's been a long time since we've spoken to each other, huh?"

"Yeah…" My hands trembled as I replied. I was planning on being mostly emotionless for our meeting but seeing her again made me shiver for some reason. That was also the reason why I couldn't look her straight in the eyes. "The invitation… you're moving away?"

"Yup." Mari had a sad tone to her voice. I could tell part of her still wanted to stay.

"Where to?" I asked her.

"Hokkaido. My mom got a new job there and she even says we can live together this time." She smiled.

"Sounds like you'll be spending a lot more time with her." I was happy for her for the most part. She was always alone at home waiting for her mom to visit to it was nice she was getting the chance to stay with her.

"I will! That's why I'm excited..." Mari said as she trailed off. "…but I'm also scared. I still can't believe I'll be gone in a few days."

 _'A few days, huh?'_ Summer was almost over and soon we'd have to go back to school. Time passes by so fast. Way too fast.

* * *

A flash of white blinded us as our eyes adjusted to the sight before us. It was just like the image on the dial: a small pond surrounded by cherry blossom trees and flowers that complimented the surroundings. Beyond that, an endless field of more flowers stretched across the horizon as a beautiful plane. The air smelled sweet like someone had just sprayed perfume everywhere.

"Keep you guard up." M whispered as he pulled out his scythe. Soran, hearing this, hastily put up his shield.

"Oh, come on. What's the worst that can happen in a place like this?" We were startled by a woman who suddenly raised herself out of the pond and onto the ground in front of us. She had long brown hair and red eyes accompanied by pure white angel wings on her back that stretched all the way to her thighs. They really looked soft and fluffy to me.

"Are you the boss?" Raising a brow, I slowy reached for the bow on my back before Orha stepped forward to stop me.

"That's Luciana, you idiot." Huh, I thought Wairuzu was the only one who calls me idiot.

"Sorry, who?"

"Reinhardt's wife." He answered before the angel before us spoke.

"That is correct. This is where I rest, the Pond of Eternity." A faint glow surrounded us as we admired the light coming from her. "There is no conflict here so you may rest easy, Envoys."

"No boss? That's weird, usually Gaia Keys are protected by overpowered monsters." M rested his scythe on his shoulders.

"Reinhardt's minions cannot access this realm. Belenus made sure that dark magic cannot open the portal after my beloved buried me. Back then, I never expected him to turn out this way…" She seemed sad. She should be. Her husband is a rampaging demon monster after all.

"We've come seeking a Gaia Key. We've come a long way, I'd appreciate it if you could give it to us." I said. After everything, I just wanted our efforts to pay off.

"I'm sorry." She said with a melancholic expression. "The key already went to the group before you."

"W-what?" Stepping back I turned around. "M check the dial!"

He hurriedly took out the artifact and showed us the lights. All of them were lit.

"Impossible…"

"Wait…" Soran looked at me in despair. "So there's none left?"

"Who were the players before us?" I quickly faced Luciana and asked. There's no way in hell I was going to let everyone down.

"They left shortly before you appeared. If you hurry, you might still catch them." She replied.

"But shouldn't they have run into Reinhardt and Jayce?" Soran was right, they would've been killed by them as soon as they stepped outside but from the looks of it, Jayce still didn't have the key.

"Unless..." Orha immediately tapped the exit portal before flashing away.

"Orha wait-" Being unable to stop him, I stared at the portal. If he stepped back out, Jayce and Reinhardt would have surely gotten him but instead I got a message coming directly from the Wizard himself.

 ** _Orhaxum: 'Portal leads back to the village. Hurry!'_**

"It goes back to Gwer Village!" I told the others. "Let's get back quick. Maybe there's a chance we can convince that group to-"

"Daize..." M sighed. "Look, I know you want that key and all but do you really think you can convince someone to give up something as rare as that?"

"I-"

"Daize, this has been a fun journey but we don't need that key to stop Jayce. I'm sure if we go to the right people, we can still save this game." Soran tried to comfort me by placing his hand on my shoulder but I didn't want any of that. This journey was far from over and I'll let all hell break loose before I give up.

"This game is important to Wairuzu… it's important to all of us. I'm not going to stop, Soran."

"I know you aren't." He smiled back at me as I received another message from Orha.

 ** _Ohaxum: 'You won't believe who got the white Gaia Key. Where are you guys?!'_**

* * *

"You..." We stood in awe as a familiar Crusader who stood by the teleport crystal with his arms crossed, glaring at us.

"Wairuzu's not with you?" He asked us.

"No."

"That's too bad." Pulling out his menu, he accessed his inventory and gave me a trade request. "This is what you're looking for, right? The guys and I found it while wandering around the ice field."

"Wait you're giving us the Gaia Key?" I couldn't believe he'd do something like this, especially when it benefits his very own enemies. "How do I know this isn't a trick?"

"Look, not all of us agree how Jayce is handling this whole race for power. I'd still like to believe that a little competition will make things more fun." After nervously accepting the trade, I glanced at Richter who lowered his head and smiled sadly. "Besides, the tower should be a PVE dungeon but if it isn't, the next time we meet, I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Oh…" Soran frowned. Deep inside, he knew he had a good heart. However, he still had to keep his loyalty to Jayce intact. They were friends, after all. I understood that more than anyone.

"Hey, give us one hell of a fight, alright?" Richter stepped back towards the teleport crystal and disappeared. I didn't know what to think. One of our enemies had just become a sort of frenemy. It was a surprise, especially coming from someone like him.

"Daize." M stepped forward.

"I know. Let's keep this thing safe until Wairuzu and Megumi return."

* * *

"Hir- Takamura-kun… I don't want things between us to be bad." Mari's head raised up and looked at me with eyes literally made out of determination. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Do you even know what to say sorry for?" I felt the heat raise up to my head in a fast wave as I stood up.

"A-at least I'm saying sorry! You're the one who ignored me for over a year!"

"I'm sorry then! I'm sorry I left you alone to enjoy your time with your better friends!"

"W-what?" Her wide eyes showed me that I had lost my cool. "Is that what this is about?"

"You just used me to get closer to Chiba-san, didn't you…?"

No response meant that I was spot on. I couldn't believe what she had done. I couldn't believe I let myself fall for something as stupid as this!

"I never meant to-"

"That's enough! I heard enough!" I felt tears forming in the corners of my eyes. Why does it hurt so much?

"Look, if you're not even going to listen to me…" Mari sprang up and wiped the tears off her face. "...then don't even bother coming to the party!"

With that she took off running to her house. My arm instinctively raised up to catch her but failed by an inch. I watched helplessly as she faded from my view. As I slumped over, the tears fell but no emotion showed on my face.

 _'What was I expecting? I always break everything meaningful in my life.'_ Another vibration in my pocket was all it took to send me off the edge. Without thinking, I took out my AuraSphere and threw it onto the ground. The outer case snapped open as the circuits sparked a bit.

"No…" Realizing what I had just done, I picked up all the scattered parts and cradled them in my hands.

 _'What have I done?'_

* * *

 **Ending: Shirushi by LiSA**

* * *

 **Next Episode: Summer's End**


	21. Episode 21: Summer's End

**Episode 21: Summer's End**

"I told you that if you couldn't meet the deadline this time, I'd have no choice!" Shut up...

"Please, Nishikima! I was busy with some personal issues. If you give me more time I can-"

"Albrecht-san, I've covered for you time and time again but I'm afraid I've run out of excuses. I'm sorry but the author wants to hire someone else to do the illustrations." **SHUT UP.**

"I-"

"I'm really sorry, Albrecht-san. Goodbye."

My body felt numb like there was nothing left inside of me. I hated this feeling more than anything in the world. Slowly, I put on my AuraSphere and activated the HUD. Still no replies from her.

 ** _Jayce: 'Ari, I'm sorry. I really am. I promise I won't let my anger get the better of me again…'_**

 ** _Jayce: 'Ari, please. I love you.'_**

"Please…" Tears started streaming down my face. Nothing, I can't do anything right. Dante Albrecht was nothing but a failure. The samurai I gave life to on paper wouldn't have failed like this. He wouldn't have made these mistakes. Jayce was the perfect character and I didn't deserve to be in his shoes.

 ***Knock Knock***

"Huh?" Wiping the moisture from my eyes, I got up and walked to the door. As soon as I opened it, I was met with a fist, a slap actually, to the face. "Ouch!"

"That's what you get for making Big Sister cry!" Akira in his full blown summer uniform stood in front of me, rubbing his hand from the recoil.

"Akira…?" Sighing, I rubbed the red spot on my cheek. For a kid, he sure can hit hard. "What do you want?"

"Big Sister asked me to check on you again. She was sniffling all the while." Letting himself in, Akira plopped down on my desk chair and spun around once. I followed him and closed the door behind me, taking my place on my bed. "She also told me not to tell Dad because if I did, he'd kill you."

"That's true…" Their Dad was a brute. I don't even know how I got his blessing back then. Come to think of it, did I get his blessing?

"Anyway, why did you hurt her?" He got straight to the point with a determined look on his face which made him seem more mature than usual.

"I… I didn't mean to. I just got caught up in trying to grab all the Gaia Keys." I said as I lowered my head.

"Which subsequently made the game shut down as well…" Akira sighed. "Dante, why are you so obsessed with this game? Don't you think Big Sister is more important than some stupid keys?"

"Of course she is!" I did not hesitate with my answer. "Of course she is. That's why I want to give her the perfect world. I want her to be happy…"

"Don't you think forcing her to break a game is too much?" His eyes glared at mine as he spoke.

"I know... I know I'm not who I say I am. I know I say people like Wairuzu are selfish yet I'm also the same. I'm nothing but a hypocrite." My hands clawed into my knees. It hurt me so much to say that out loud. "Ari must hate me…"

"She doesn't hate you. She's just hurt." Akira replied

"Then why isn't she replying to my messages?"

"Because she wanted to keep this a surprise." My door unlocked as the most beautiful person I've ever seen walked into the room. She brushed her black hair back as she pulled her luggage into the room. "I thought I'd stop by before returning home."

"Ari-chan…"

"Did you really mean it? You just want me to be happy?"

"Of course I did why-"

"Than why did you use me to get the Gaia Keys?!" She raised her voice unwillingly.

"I'm sorry, Ari-chan…" My voice trembled as I spoke. "I shouldn't have made you do that. You have all the reason to hate me…"

"I don't hate you, Dante-kun!" In an instant, Ari leapt forward and wrapper her hand around me. I felt her embrace once more but it was warmer than usual. This was way different than what it felt like in game. "You just worry me so much, I can't help but get mad at how you're treating yourself!"

"I promise I won't worry you anymore. You're more important than anything in my life." Pulling back, I wiped a tear that was forming in her eye. "I love you."

"I love you too." As our faces came closer, someone decided to clear his throat.

"You guys are disgusting." Akira sat before us on my chair with his arms crossed. All of a sudden, he jolted up as he felt a vibration in his pocket. Pulling out his black AuraSphere, he put it on and checked the notification. "Guys, an update video just popped up."

"What?" Reaching for my own device, I put it on as well. Ari, on the other hand, started unlocking her luggage.

"Hold on, I packed mine in here!" She said as she rummaged through her stuff and pulled out a pristine looking AuraSphere box. She always knew how to take care of her belongings, especially something that was so expensive.

 **"Hello, Envoys of Gaia! Ah, that was stupid..."** A man with glasses and a short hair cut greeted us. This time, he looked like he was just from the office with a simple red necktie along with a light blue button up shirt. It was clear that this wasn't an in game character but one of the developers. **"My name is Toru Minabuchi. I'm the head of server maintainance here at RECT Progress! I just wanted to apologize for the server issues we've been having throughout the week."**

"He's talking about that, huh?" I asked as both Ari and Akira shushed.

 **"It has come to my attention that there have been attempts to edit the game's code. Attempts that I assure you have been resolved. We still don't know who staged these attacks but rest assured that we have placed countermeasures to combat them in the future."** Pushing up his glasses, he inhaled before speaking again. **"This incident has shown us that we are in desperate need for Administrators to govern the game within the world of Azuria. Therefore, we have decided to hold the Sky Tower event tomorrow at approximately six in the evening. The event itself will run for the rest of the week, giving you all a enough time to clear each floor."**

"Wait, are you serious?!" Akira shouted.

 **"I know it's a challenge but we do need the best of the best for the AKO Council. For those lucky eight who managed to get their hands on Gaia Keys, I can't wait to see how you will shape the world of Aura Kingdom Online."**

* * *

 **Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

I sat on my bed with my knees huddled up as I stared at the wall. Lots of thoughts came in and out of my head to the point where I didn't even bother trying to understand them. I wished things were different, I wished I hadn't done what I did but it was too late now.

"Don't even bother coming to the party!" Her words echoed again and again. I wish I could just get her out of my head but I couldn't.

"Hiro?" My mom knocked on the door as she slowly entered with a soft smile on her face. "The shop called and they said they can get your AuraSphere fixed by tomorrow."

"Thanks, mom." I said sheepishly as I relaxed myself on the bed.

"Hiro…" Moving over, she took her seat a few inches away from my legs and faced me. "I know you keep a lot of problems to yourself but you'll find that things will only get worse as time passes."

I didn't bother replying. I didn't want to talk about my personal issues, not with her at least. She would never understand.

"I know it might seem your father and I are distant sometimes but that's not the case. We know you want your space and we give that to you… but if you ever need an ear, we're here for you." She placed her and on my left leg as she spoke. "We love you, sweetie. You know that, don't you?"

"I know, Mom." Maybe I was being too cold to them. Ever since Mari and I stopped talking, I always felt too bitter to act like everything was alright. She opened my eyes to the world and how it truly operated. I was scared to realize that… but at the same time, I missed her. I missed our talks, our dinners, I missed her smile.

"Tell you what. I'll make some omurice for dinner. I know it's your favorite. I'm still getting the hang of flipping the egg but I know I'll perfect it eventually." She smiled as she stood back and exited the room but not before saying one last thing. "Hiro, try to give yourself more credit. You're more special than you know."

My eyes traced the lines on the ceiling as I exhaled. "Am I?"

All of a sudden, my ringtone rang out as I pulled my phone from the table beside me. Since the AuraSphere was being repaired, I had to rely on my old smartphone to message. Sliding it open, I found an incoming call from Shimpei.

"Hello?" I answered as my ear burst from the loud voice coming from the other end.

"Hiro, finally! I've been trying to reach you for days! Where have you been?!"

"Sorry, dude. Got caught up in some stuff. I'm sorry I couldn't log in." I gulped before saying the next words. "I assume Jayce managed to find all the keys?"

"What? No, we have one."

"Wait, what the hell?!" Jumping out of my bed in surprise, I turned to face the window. "Where'd you get one?!"

Mr. Know-it-all proceeded to explain how he and the others ventured to Silent Ice Field and found Jayce together with Reinhardt who were searching for the final Gaia Key as well. Luckily the portal they were supposed to go through managed to lock out any creature touched by dark magic. The end, however, shocked me.

"Richter… was there?"

"Yeah. He said he wanted us to give him a good fight."

Richter, the person whom I've fought against this whole time. I didn't know if he had something planned or if he was actually trying to be a nice person but that didn't matter now.

"We have to move on, Hiro." He lowered his voice from his usual volume. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Y-yeah..." I lied. I hated not being able to do anything right. Instead, the others picked up my slack.

"And what was… oh yeah!" He raised his voice back to his usual level. "The event's tomorrow! The Sky Tower should open around six in the evening!"

"Tomorrow?!" I gasped. I know my mom said that the AuraSphere would be repaired and ready by tomorrow but I forgot to ask for a specific time.

"Yeah, man. We're going to make preparations tonight. Log in when you can." He told me. "Oh! Don't forget to message Megumi. None of us can reach her right now. We all know she always responds to you."

Before I could say another word, he hung up before I could get the chance to tell him that I had no way of logging in for now. Sitting back down, I wondered what the hell I was going to do.

* * *

Tightly hugging my pillow with my earbuds on and my phone set to max volume, I stared blankly at the ceiling. I had managed to avoid crying for the entire afternoon so it was nice to finally let loose in my room. At this point, my tears had dried up so I finally decided to open my phone and check my messages. It wasn't a surprise none of them were from Hiro. Most of them were replies from my friends who said they were going to my farewell party the next day to see me off. They made me feel a little happier but O had to admit, I was still scared.

However, besides those messages, I found some coming from M, Daize, and Soran themselves. Each of them were politely asking if I was planning on logging in to AKO again. I didn't feel like I should. Megumi was a happy go lucky Sorcerer not a mopey crybaby, after all. I didn't want my real life to get in the way of my virtual one so I decided not to reply to them.

"Mari?" A few knocks came from my door as I hurriedly wiped any tears that remained on my face and took off my earbuds.

"Come in." I said before my Aunt entered my room holding a purple yukata hanging from a hanger. "Auntie!"

"Is it okay? I had my friend, Masahiro-kun, make a custom design and I knew you'd love the purple."

Jumping from my bed, I stroked the fabric of the dress. It was smooth with floral patterns all of it. "It's perfect! I love it!"

"It's yours now, Mari. Consider it my final farewell present. You can even wear it tomorrow, make all those girls jealous." She smiled as she said that. For a single aunt, she was very thoughtful.

"Thank you, Auntie. I will wear it tomorrow." I grinned as she took me into another embrace. I felt the tightness of her arms envelop me as I squirmed to get away.

"I'll miss you so much! I hope you and your mother will have a wonderful time in Hokkaido!"

"T-thank you…" I'm dying.

"Now, I have to go and tend to the shrine preparations. Remember, the summer festival starts tomorrow but your party is at six so don't be late! It's your farewell, after all." She reminded me as she left my room, leaving me to take in a large breath of air after being strangled so much.

 _'I wonder if Hiro is going.'_ He probably wouldn't, not after I snapped at him. In a way, he was telling the truth. I used him. I wasn't sure if that's how he saw it at first but now I know.

All of a sudden, my phone vibrated again. Checking it, I found a message from Wairuzu.

 ** _Wairuzu: 'Hey, you got a minute?'_**

Hastily, I typed my reply.

 ** _Megumi: 'Sorry, I don't feel so good. Can't log in.'_**

 ** _Wairuzu: 'I didn't mean log in. Is that fine with you?'_**

Chat? Did he really want to talk to me that badly?

 **Megumi: 'Sure. What's up?'**

 **Wairuzu: 'I talked to my friend… I don't think it ended well.'**

Yeah, me too.

 ** _Megumi: 'What happened? If you don't mind telling me that is.'_**

 ** _Wairuzu: 'Things just went South. I said something I shouldn't have and now I think things were worse than before.'_**

I didn't know why but I felt like Wairuzu was very troubled. I could feel his pain as I read every word he sent.

 ** _Megumi: 'I'm sorry. I'm glad you tried though. I know that wasn't easy.'_**

 ** _Wairuzu: 'Thank you, Megumi.'_**

You're very much welcome, swordsman.

 ** _Wairuzu: 'By the way, the Sky Tower event was moved to tomorrow. The guys were wondering if you could come.'_**

"Huh?" I raised a brow as I read that. Did they really move it?

 ** _Wairuzu: 'They said it's going to be up from six in the evening until Sunday night.'_**

"Oh no…" That was the exact same time my party was going to be held.

 ** _Megumi: 'I don't know if I can go. Busy with real life yet again.'_**

 ** _Wairuzu: 'Oh, that's okay. I get it.'_**

"I'm sorry, guys…" Truth was, my flight wasn't until the next morning so I could totally log in after the festival but I didn't feel like I wanted to. Something inside me was preventing me from joining them and I wasn't sure what it was. Clenching my chest, I exhaled. There wasn't much I could do now. By this time tomorrow, I'd be saying goodbye to all the people I've come to know and love. All but one…

* * *

"Still nothing?" M asked as I entered Candeo Cafe where we had decided to meet for preparations before the Sky Tower raid.

"Wairuzu finally responded but I don't think he's planning to log in any time soon." I told them as I scratched my head in frustration. Sometimes the guy just ticks me off, you know?

"Great. The moment we finally get our hands on a Gaia Key, two of our most important members go MIA!" The Reaper was clearly frustrated from the whole situation but we all knew we couldn't do anything about that.

"So what are we going to do now?" Soran asked with saddened eyes.

"If they don't show up tomorrow, we'll have no choice but to raid the Sky Tower without them. Remember, we still have to stop Jayce from gaining complete control over AKO." Orha said.

"Yeah but what happens if we go in without our guild leader?" I knew that the reward would not only involve a crap ton of loot but also the keys to the kingdom which we're only granted to the guild leader. Everyone glared at each other, waiting for someone to answer until M spoke up.

"There's an option to change the guild leader. If Wairuzu isn't planning on coming with us then he might as well hand over the reigns." Clearly, he knew he was the best option to lead the guild but just didn't want to say it out loud. Soran and Orha would probably refuse the role and I didn't want the kind of pressure that came with being an admin of a game.

"I… I'll talk to him tomorrow." I responded.

"Thank you, Daize." Stretching his arms, M opened his inventory. "Right, down to business. We'll need a couple of things before the raid."

"We'll need to make up for the lack of a strong healer in the party so potions are a must." Orha said.

"What if we run into Jayce and the Cobalt Rangers?" Soran raised a brow.

"The tower should be set to PVE. The event was aiming to unite eight different guilds, after all." The Wizard answered. "But we'll need a backup plan in case things take a turn for the worse."

"Leave that to me…" M tipped his Dagon hat at us while smiling. The rest of the night went quickly. We identified what we needed and went out to buy them. I knew tomorrow was going to be an important day but what I didn't know was that it was going to be a day that would change all of our lives forever.

* * *

"I'm heading out." I told my parents as I stood by the doorway, putting my shoes on. My Mom raised her head along with Dad.

"Take care sweetie. Don't forget the money and form!" She told me.

"I have it, don't worry." Waving the items around, I tucked them deep into the right pocket of my jeans and pulled my hood up to protect me from the sun's afternoon rays. As soon as I stepped outside, however, I was greeted with someone I never expected to see.

"Hey, Hiro." Shimpei waved at me with a stupid smile. "I was about to knock. Where are you headed?"

"I… uh, have to get my AuraSphere. My Mom sent it in for repairs a few days ago."

"Wait, seriously? What happened to it?" He said with a concerned look on his face.

"Look, I got to go. See you around, Shimpei." Walking past him, I was suddenly grabbed by the arm.

"Hey, dude. What's up? You've been acting weird for a while now. If something's wrong, you can talk to me or Genji, you know?"

Lowering my head, I thought about taking the offer but decided to refuse once more. It seemed like the only person I could be open with this kind of stuff was Megumi. It might just be because of the anonymity, though.

"Everything's fine, you idiot." I chopped the top of his head yet again but this time it was gentle. "I'll see about logging in later but I can't make any promises."

"O-okay…"

Turning around, I made my way to the local train station. The repair shop was just a few stops over so I should be able to make it to the event just fine but at this point, I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

* * *

"It was in a pretty bad shape but thankfully the casing was designed to withstand a big impact." A middle-aged man with a receding hairline handed me my orange AuraSphere which looked good as new. The wonders of modern technology never ceased to amaze me.

"Thank you." I said as I gave him both the money and the order form.

"What did you say happened again?" He asked me as he loaded the cash into the register.

"I… dropped it."

"Hm… seems like a lot of damage for a simple fall." Before I could reply, he handed me the receipt and smiled. "Thank you. Please come again."

Stepping out of the store, I immediately synced my AuraSphere to my phone and accessed the contacts list. I was going to message Shimpei when my finger came across Mari's name again. For some reason, I haven't deleted her from my contacts yet. With my head raised up in the air, I stared blankly at the sky. It was already getting dark.

 _'The guys need me, I have the AuraSphere already, just go home Hiro! Just…'_ Lowering my head, I glanced at my open palm which curled into a fist.

 _"H-how about you? Is this guy important to you?"_ Megumi's words echoed in my head like a bell.

 _'Damn it.'_

* * *

"Mari-chan!" A dark skinned girl with short hair embraced me as I stepped onto the shrine grounds.

"It's nice to see you again, Chisa." This girl had been my best friend throughout high school so it was nice to see her again. Behind her, the rest of my friends appeared and I hugged every one of them. It wasn't long before they started complimenting me for my Yukata. We chatted until we decided it was time to check out the festival my Aunt had spent a week preparing for but before we could, one of my friends turned around.

"Wait, what's he doing here?" He said as we all turned to face the opposite direction. My eyes widened as the lights flashed all around me. There he was standing at the foot of the staircase with his black jacket and thick glasses.

"Hey, Mari." Hiro waved at me with two fingers.

* * *

 **Ending: Shirushi by LiSA**

* * *

 **Next Episode: The Sky Tower**


	22. Episode 22: The Sky Tower

**Episode 22: The Sky Tower**

 **Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

 **March 2028**

"I'm sorry, Albrecht-san. Without a proper adult, we cannot allow you into this academy." A buttoned up old man sat in front of me as I leaned back into the soft chair in disappointment, scratching my scruffy hair in disappointment.

"You don't understand, I spent the last of my money to take this entrance exam!" Leaning forward, I pleaded as much as I could but ended up with a solemn shake of the head.

"I know you scored the highest on the test but without the proper guardian to sign the documents, I cannot allow you to study here. Where are yours parents anyway? I can call them if-"

"No!" Standing up, I held my head down. It wouldn't matter if he called them anyway. "It's fine. Sorry for taking up your time.

"Albrecht-san, wait!"

Bursting out of the room, I ran down the hallway past different students. Making my way upstairs, I didn't stop until I was on the roof. Glaring at the sunset, I yelled to my heart's content. I didn't care if anyone heard me so I yelled and I yelled until my voice finally cracked.

"Do you have to be so loud?" Turning around, I found a girl wearing a green short-sleeved shirt standing by the entrance to the roof.

"I-I'm sorry…"

"Ari Rintaro, and you are?" She asked all of a sudden.

"Dante Albrecht…"

"What? Hey, you're the Dante Albrecht?!" With her finger pointed straight at me, her eyes lit up.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I was in second second rank because of you…" Her face then turned into a look of despair as she trailed off her little tantrum.

"It won't matter anyway. I'm not attending this school."

"Wait, what? Why?" She asked, surprised by my statement.

"I… I don't have a guardian."

"Is that it? Don't you have your parents?" Her head tilted a bit as I stayed quiet. A few seconds passed until she spoke again. "Oh… not even an uncle or an aunt?"

"It's not like that. I can't rely on my parents to agree with this."

"Why?"

"It's complicated, alright?" I didn't feel like opening up to her. Nobody could understand my situation anyway.

"Albrecht-kun, if you'll allow me… my parents can help with that. They're friends with the principle so if they talk to him, I'm sure he'll let you in!" A smile formed on her face as she said that. My eyes widened after hearing it. I couldn't believe a stranger like her would do something like that for me.

"R-really?"

"But first, you need to tell me what's going on with you."

* * *

 **March 2027**

"Well, we have to do something about his education!"

"Listen, can we do this tomorrow? I can't handle this right now."

"No, we are doing this tonight! And don't you dare start drinking again!"

They argued again and again, endlessly. It was like a broken record at this point. I just wanted it to stop.

"Look, he's your problem so you take care of him!"

"He's your son! Do you not care about him at all?!"

"I never wanted him in the first place!"

A loud sound rang through my ears as I knew he hit her again. Every day was a tipping point and this might just be the nail in the coffin. It wasn't long until my mother found her way to my room with a red mark visible on the side of her head. She caressed me and told me it would be okay. The next morning we would be gone and that man I once called Dad would just be a bad memory.

"You'll never leave me, right?" I would ask her every time. She would always nod and smile saying that it was our promise. After all, we only had each other.

* * *

 **February 2028**

"Yes? The paperwork should be ready." I hear her voice coming from the her room. "When will they pick him up?"

 _'Him?! She can't mean me, can she?'_

"Thank you." I heard her footsteps ring out as I quickly stepped back from the door. As she walked out, she noticed the terrified look on my face.

"Dante… how much did you hear?"

Without a second thought, I rushed into her room and shut the door, locking it in place.

"Dante, open the door!" The banging got louder. "Dante, open the door this instant!"

"I'm sorry but I can't take care of you anymore! Dante, please!" Shut up you lying bitch!

To my side, I noticed that her purse was open. Without thinking, I grabbed it and headed out through the window. Our apartment complex was high up so going down the fire escape was terrifying but I had no choice. I had no one to rely on anymore but myself. It was only when I reached the ground that I realized the tears flowing down my face.

* * *

 **March 2028**

"You survived on your own for a month? How?" Ari sat beside me on the step leading to the doorway on the roof.

"I did what I could with what I had. I thought if I could get into this high school and graduate, I could find jobs easier." It had been a rough road between juggling my visits to the local library and working the part-time jobs that I could. I did everything to survive but if my plan failed now, I was done.

"That's horrible…" Her eyes met mine as I only noticed the tears forming on her face. I didn't mean to make her cry. "Tell you what, come with me and we'll see what we can do, huh?"

I felt a sudden tug at my hand as she pulled me back inside. Down the stairs we went as I tried my best not to trip. "Don't worry, Albrecht-kun! Everything is going to be okay now!"

"Why…?"

With a slight spin, Ari turned around to face me. "It would be a shame if the smartest person in this school couldn't attend!"

I didn't understand her reason but I didn't need to. She took care of me. I owe everything to her. The only reason I'm standing here today is because of Ari Rintaro. That's why her happiness is the most important thing to me. Why…? Why did I have to mess that up?

* * *

 **August 2034**

My body felt stiff as I glanced at the countdown timer projected over the entrance to the Sky Tower. It's height was way more majestic up close, the higher parts covered by the clouds themselves. It seemed as though it would take forever to reach the top but I knew it would be a piece of cake with my ability.

 **00:01:00**

One minute left. Turning around, I found Richter, his squad, and my two companions by my side.

"We're ready, Jayce." Richter told me as I turned to face Arryn.

"We've been looking forward to this day, you excited?" I asked her, smiling gently.

"Of course! Just remember our promise, we make you admin and…"

"…and I appoint other people as moderator while I take a break for month, yeah yeah." Chuckling, I finished her sentence. Becoming an admin meant more work on my part but I was planning on making Richter and his team moderators to handle things while I was gone. Only a month, of course. It was hard to agree with her but it also meant I got to spend some time with her too.

"Jayce!" A familiar looking Crusader marched up to us along with a Shinobi next to him. Behind them, a crowd had formed with each of them having a seemingly upset look on their faces. "Is it true?! Did you steal all of the Gaia Keys for yourself?!"

Richter stepped forward to defend me but I just brushed him off to the side. If anyone was going to deal with this, it had to be me.

"So what if I did?"

His eyes shifted as he glared at me in anger. "I joined your guild because I thought we were helping others find the Keys! I thought we were going to unite the strongest players in the game to rule over this land!"

Clicking my tongue, I tried my best to stay calm. The crowd behind him was already riling up. "Do you think you can trust other people? From my experience, people tend to be disappointing."

"What's he talking about?" The Shinobi asked her partner.

"Consider this your first lesson in reality." Pulling up my mask, my eyes lit up a bright blue. Switching to the guild screen, I quickly selected the option to remove everyone else from the Cobalt Rangers and set the guild to private which denied them access to the Sky Tower itself.

"You… you bastard!"

Walking away, the countdown reached the final seconds. It was time… time to take what was ours. The room we entered was dark until a glowing light lit up the surrounding area. In front of us, a bison-like creature stood up on it's hind legs holding a great-sword. The first boss out of a hundred.

"Remember our strategy!" I shouted as I activated my skill. Two swords formed in my hands as we rushed towards the boss.

* * *

"In a surprising turn of events, the leader of the Cobalt Rangers kicked everyone out of his guild, save for a select few who we learned are now in the Sky Tower with him! What a rude move!" Our usual virtual idol delivered the news as we tuned in to her feed along with the rest of the guys as we sat underneath the shade of a Navean cafe. "But the question everyone is asking is did he really steal all the Gaia Keys for himself? It seems that's the case since he and his team are currently the only people inside the Sky Tower right now!"

The feed then switched to live footage of Jayce and the others fighting through the first boss with ease thanks to the blue Ronin creating weapons out of nowhere. Around us, many players we're already talking.

"Seriously? A hacker and hoarder is going to be AKO's admin?"

"I'd rather quit the game at this point."

"Yeah, this is no fun anymore."

"Crap…" I said as I pushed up my glasses.

"We're running out of time. We need to go now, with or without them!" M slammed his fist on the table.

"Look, I'm sure Wairuzu-"

"Wairuzu doesn't care, Daize! Stop trying to justify his actions!" The Reaper quickly pulled up a screen and sent us all a notification. It was a re-election vote, a system that allowed guild members to re-assign the guild leader. "We need to make our decision now. If we go there and win, the only other admin of AKO will become an inactive player."

"H-he's right, Daize." Soran told me as Orha silently glanced over. "We can't wait anymore."

"Daize, please."

I still wanted to believe he was coming back. I still wanted to play this game with him but at the rate everything was going, I didn't know if that was possible anymore. But part of me… part of me still believed.

"The 99th floor." Standing up, I firmly planted my hands down. "Once we reach that floor and he's not there, I'll gladly agree to this."

"No way! I'm not letting him take credit for our work!" M stood up in response with his finger pointing straight at me.

"I don't think that will be a problem, though." Soran said as he kept his eyes on the live-stream. "Jayce and his friends are clearing the floors really fast…"

* * *

Grunting, I landed onto the wooden floor as the two great swords I threw at the werewolf-like boss perfectly impaled it to the wall. I could already feel myself draining as the creature faded away.

"Jayce, you alright?" Arryn came to my side and picked me back up.

"Yeah… skill's just wearing off that's all." We were only on the 14th floor. It would be a shame to stop now. With another push, I slowly walked towards the next entry portal. "Don't worry, I'm fine."

"No way! You need to take it easy. Let us handle the next bosses."

"What? Do you think we're too weak?" Kage laughed as he crossed his arms.

"Not at all." Deactivating my ability, I stood back up and pulled down my mask which revealed the smile that had formed on my face. "Fine. Richter and the rest, you okay with that?"

"We're ready, Jayce" Chuu spun his lance around.

"Let's kick some ass!" Richter shouted as he charged forward into the portal, going one floor higher. The rest of us followed suit as I stayed behind. Checking my notifications, I found multiple links to live-streams that were broadcasting the whole event. Looked like the players' eyes were on us at this moment. Brushing the screen aside, I jumped into the portal and joined the rest of my team.

* * *

"Excuse me! Pardon me!" I shifted through a crowd of players who were trying to break down the doors to the Sky Tower. Everyone around us was getting more and more riled up by the minute.

"Let us in!"

"Why do we have to collect stupid keys anyway?!"

"We were cheated!"

"Gosh, everyone's so angry…" I found Soran right next to me after being shoved around. It seemed as though it was going to be a challenge to get to the doors.

"Guys! I made it!" From the sea of people rose a familiar looking scythe. M had already made it to the door and was trying to clear a path for us.

"Please, excuse me!" Quickly maneuvering towards him, I grabbed Soran by the arm and pulled him with me. Some players we're bumped to the side but at this point, I just wanted to get inside. It took some effort but Soran and I managed to meet up with M and Orha at the door.

"Quick unlock it! I'm suffocating!" M yelled at the top of his lungs, holding some players to the side.

Touching the door, a menu popped up asking for a single Gaia Key. I selected the white one I had and unlocked the doors of the Sky Tower for the [Name Redacted] guild. An acceptance screen popped up as the doors opened up, leaving an invisible barrier between us and the interior which separated the other players from us when we stepped in.

"Hey, they got in!"

"They have a Gaia Key?!"

"No fair!'

Their voices faded as the doors shut closed once more. Things were just getting worse.

"This game isn't going to survive this…" I said while catching my breath.

"You may be right but that doesn't matter now. Let's just focus on the mission." M walked forward with his Dagon hat on and examined the room. It was similar to a dojo you'd find in a karate place or a kendo school. The walls were white and circular while the floor was a clean wooden one. "Where's the boss?"

"The Sky Tower was meant to be a co-operative raid. The bosses were tuned to provide a difficulty in both power and numbers in order to force the supposed eight guilds to combine their forces." Orha explained.

"And Jayce managed to cheat his way to the top. Great." Sighing M took a moment to gather his thoughts. "We'll just have to piggyback on Jayce and his friends. Right now, they're clearing this tower for us and I'd like to keep it that way."

"What can they do anyway if they see us? It's not like PVP is activated." Soran pointed out.

"I know. I just… I want to be careful. I have a bad feeling about this." Turning to me, M raised his pointed finger at my face. "Wairuzu better make it in time."

"He will." I said with determination. Wairuzu, no, Hiro wouldn't let us down. I had faith in him and I knew they did too.

"I hope Megumi can make it too." Soran added as Orha nodded.

"Me too. It'd be great if I wasn't reduced to a healer all the time."

With a tip of his cap, M laughed. "Right. Let's start climbing."

* * *

"What floor are we on?" I asked as I slumped against the wall and onto the floor. The last couple of floors were so challenging that I had no choice but to use my creation ability. Of course, this wore me out a lot.

"34. Damn this place is tough, man!" Taito the Gunslinger breathed out in exhaustion.

Richter was already sitting down, consuming his health potions. "Jayce, this dungeon was made for eight guilds to push through. I don't know if we can-"

"We can do this! I know we can!" Arryn, the voice of hope, exclaimed. "We've come so far already. We can't give up now!"

"Big sis, you seem more positive lately." Kage laughed.

"That's because I'm excited! I know this game will be perfect for us once we reach the top."

 _'Perfect it will be.'_ Smiling, I picked myself up and clenched my hand into a fist. We had to do this no matter what stood in our way. This was for us, after all.

"Hey!" I heard Jean the Bard shout from the other side of the room as four people entered the floor we were in. It was none other than the only other guild who managed to get their hands on a Gaia Key.

"Whoops…" The Reaper with some stupid hat on his head slowly backed up and whispered to his guild members. "I think we went too fast."

"Should we back up one floor?" The Knight asked.

"I think it's way too late for that, guys." The Archer replied.

Clearing my throat, I stepped forward. "I was wondering how long it would take you to get here. Where's your angry swordsman?"

"We could ask you the same thing…" The Reaper gave me a glare as Daize whispered to him.

"That's not how that works."

"Shut up, Daize." Turning back to me, he unsheathed his scythe and pointed it at me. The rest of my team took out their weapons as well.

Grinning, I raised my hand to tell everyone to lower them. "Look, even if I want to fight, we can't. This is a PVE dungeon."

"So what do you want us to do? Cuddle?!" His gaze never strayed away from mine.

"Listen, Reaper. We both want the same thing: to get to the top of this tower and I have to admit, the bosses are already getting too strong even for me." Taking a step forward, I reached my hand out to them. "At this point, we have no choice but to work together."

"Like hell we are!" Daize shouted. "I know you have another trick up your sleeve! All of you do!"

Smirking, I laughed at how cynical he had become. For some reason, his attitude brought me comfort. "No tricks, Daize. There's none we can pull, anyway. If we let you go first and be the bait, you'd just die and we would be left where we started. The portals only open once each floor boss is defeated."

"He's right. This event was created by the new team. Not to mention, it's being viewed by a lot of people across the country." The Wizard told him as he clicked his tongue in frustration.

"Well, what'll it be?" I asked all of them.

* * *

 **"Heyoo! It's me again! Back with an update regarding the ongoing Sky Tower Event in none other than Aura Kingdom Online!"**

The virtual idol spun around and pointed straight at the screen.

 **"It has already been more than two hours and over 80% of the floors have been cleared! The guild that had entered the tower around an hour ago had managed to help the current one speed up their floor clearing frenzy!"**

 **"However, many players are still left in anguish as they took to social media to express their anger! Just as they should be!"**

She puffed her face.

 **"Many of them claim the guilds inside the tower cheated, leaving the rest of the fanbase without access to this rare dungeon! Many have tried reaching out to RECT for a statement but none were successful so far, leaving us with this question: Does this company actually know how flawed their system is?"**

* * *

"Keep the barrages up!" Jayce shouted as the other Archer and I followed up with another volley of arrows. The giant ice snake we were fighting was already close to dying, all it took was a combined attack from all the melee fighters to take it down. As we all took a moment to heal, I approached Soran who was sitting by the side.

"I hate working with them." I told him as I took my seat beside him.

"Well, we have no choice now, do we? This way, at least, everyone benefits." The Knight faintly smiled. "This is kind of nostalgic, actually."

"Seriously? How?" I flinched back.

"Remember when we fought that Pirate together? Back when everyone wasn't going insane over virtual keys…" Lowering his head, a hint of sadness filled his face. "I don't know, Daize. I just wish everyone could get along. I don't care how many times people betray me, I just want to get along with them."

"Soran…" He was way too nice for anyone in this world. Ultimately, we all wanted what he wanted but unfortunately that's not how the world works.

"Hey…" A familiar Bard walked up to us, nervously stroking his harp. "I'm only doing this because Richter told me to but… are you guys hurt?"

With a bit of hesitation, he proceeded to use his healing spells on us. It was an uncomfortable and awkward experience for both parties.

"Thanks, Jean…" Soran said, feeling his shoulder a bit.

"You remember my name?" The Bard asked as he stood back up.

"Of course I do. I'd always remember a worthy adversary like you. You really gave us hell back in those ice caves!" He chuckled with a blush. Sometimes, I forget that he's actually a dude.

"Well… thank you." Jean scratched the back of his head while looking away. "Oh! By the way, Megumi isn't with you either?"

"We tried messaging her and Wairuzu countless times but no response, unfortunately." I explained, crossing my arms and staring at him curiously. "You too, huh?"

"M-me too what?" He stuttered while blinking.

* * *

"I'm glad to be working with you for once." I held my hand out to the Reaper and Wizard who were talking in the side of the room. "You fight well, M."

"Yeah. I bet I could kick your ass if I got the chance, you deuce." M crossed his arms as I lowered my hand.

"I assume Wairuzu told you about me?"

"Him and the others. We know how you betrayed him. We know how you've stolen every Gaia Key except ours and denied the right for six other guild leaders to become admins!"

"Let me tell you this: do you think Wairuzu is a much better candidate to become admin than me?" I furrowed my brows as I spoke.

"Well…"

"I have seen other people like Wairuzu who only wanted this for the power. They didn't care about order, they just wanted to mess around in the game!" I only spoke the truth. "I'm doing this for my friends. I want a game they can have fun in. A game where they don't have to worry about selfish people like them anymore."

Closing my eyes, I sighed. "At least I don't abandon my friends when they need me…"

"Friends like the Dark Lord Reinhardt?" The Wizard spoke up. "We saw you working with him. I wouldn't be surprised if the attack on Helonia Coast was because of you."

"That... That was out of my power. I didn't know he was going to go berserk like that. I didn't think the NPC's in this game were capable of such things, to begin with." Giving him a glare of determination, I stood my ground. "But I swear to you, I will make this right."

* * *

I carefully trailed behind the others with my bow drawn out. After another hour, we had reached the 99th floor at last. As suspected, M walked up to me.

"Alright, Daize. We gave him a chance. It's time." He told me with his scythe already in his hands.

"Can we wait until after we fight this boss, please?" I whispered loudly. The room itself was humming like some sort of machine had been running. It had an eerie atmosphere that sent chills down my spine.

"Fine but no more waiting afterwards." The Reaper reluctantly agreed with me as a mist fell upon us, blocking our vision of what was in front of us. However, we all heard through same familiar voice.

"You Envoys of Gaia are strong, I'll give you that…" A glowing red figure stepped into view as we all readied our weapons. It was none other than Reinhardt himself.

"So we meet again, Dark Lord." Jayce firmly put his mask on as his body emanated a blue Aura. With a flick of his hands, a large sword formed in each of them.

Reinhardt merely laughed in response. "Try if you want but your quest ends here. Bisolen!"

From the ground rose a sheep looking creature with blue skin that growled menacingly at us. "My Lord, I am here to serve.

"The Ancient Demon King. Reinhardt's right hand commander!" Orha shouted, providing us with info.

"Kill them all." Reinhardt commanded as a black portal appeared behind him.

"Yes, my Lord."

"You're not getting away that easily!" Jayce sprung himself forward, past the Demon Lord, and tackled the Dark Lord which sent them both through the portal.

"Jayce!" Arryn rushed forward, only to be knocked down by Bisolen's fist. The goat roared in anger as I quickly leaped into action, shooting a single power shot straight into its head. Stumbling back, it raised its hands in anger and brought down a wave of ice that froze everyone in place.

"What the hell?!" Richter started chipping away at the ice as Bisolen's mouth opened, a ball of ice energy forming in it.

"Song of Fire!" Jean strummed a chord from his harp and sent a ripple of flames bursting around us in a circle, freeing us from our icy shackles.

"Iron Wall!" Soran rushed to the front and blocked the incoming ice beam with much effort. This allowed Arryn and the Lancer to quickly make their way to Bisolen's flanks and dish out a barrage of attacks.

After the beam had subsided, Kage and Richter led the front line and brought their heavy weapons down on the beast's head. In time, I let loose a volley of poison arrows into the demon's chest as the other Archer followed suit. With his health slowly going down from the debuffs, M spun his scythe and sent a wave of bats towards him while Orha fired orbs of light that exploded upon impact. As the dust settled, we heard laughing coming from the smoke.

 **"Foolish Envoys… prepare to DiE!"**

* * *

My body rolled along the floor as we exited the portal. Slowly picking myself up, I raised my head to find Reinhardt getting back up as well.

"You… you insolent-"

"You can drop the act now!" I shouted as the Dark Lord froze in place. "Reinhardt is pretty intelligent compared to the other NPC's. You're more reactive, more emotional… more human."

A slight smirk came from his lips as his smiled. "The jig's up, huh?"

* * *

 **Ending: Shirushi by LiSA**

* * *

 **Next Episode: The Final Raid**


	23. Episode 23: The Final Raid

**Episode 23: The Final Raid**

 **Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka**

* * *

I was only four years old when he died. My memories of him were almost non-existent because of that so I just relied on my mom to tell me more about him. I knew he preferred English music. I knew he was obsessed with video games. I knew he was always stubborn but, at the same time, caring.

Mom always told me how she regrets every fight she had with him. Bringing me up was a challenge but it was one she was glad she faced together with him. When he died in that death game, mom told me she wished that she could take back what she said. She wished that she had forgiven him on the spot but it was already too late. It was too late for her to say what was on her mind. Closure is something we all take for granted.

"Mari-chan." Chisa poked my cheek as I stared at the night sky which lit up with an abundance of stars. The lights around us flickered as lanterns hung from the countless tents put up.

"Chi-chi, stop!" Laughing, I held her finger in place. "You know I'm sensitive there."

"I do." She smiled earnestly. "By the way, are you going to actually talk to him?"

Glancing with her, we laid our eyes on Hiro who was quietly watching the puppet show along with multiple children who were on the ground, sitting and staring curiously.

"It's been an hour and he's just quietly following us around. I'm pretty sure he's only going to talk to you." Chisa told me. Hiro wasn't the most outgoing person but it was still sad to see him alone like that.

"Hey, Chisa-chan and Mari-chan! Let's hit up the Takoyaki stand next!" My other friend walked up to us with a stick of dried squid in his hands. The four other girls around him smiled and waved for us to come too. With a friendly punch, Chisa winked at me and joined the others.

Nodding, I replied. "You guys go ahead. I'll be with you in a bit."

Turning around, I made my way to Hiro who kept his eyes on the puppets that were moving around to the tune of a stringed instrument. One was dressed in a bright red yukata while the other was in blue.

"They're retelling the story of the Star-Crossed lovers." I explained as I remembered all the times my mom told me about it. "It's kind of sad that Orihime and Hikoboshi can only see each other once a year."

"Yeah…" He said solemnly before scratching the back of his neck. "Hey, Mari. I'm sorry I said what I said. I'm happy that you and Chib-"

"Chiba-san and I aren't together." I immediately replied.

Glancing at me with wide eyes, he spoke. "Oh? What happened?"

"It... It didn't work out." My eyes lowered as the memories clouded my mind. However, he wasn't the only one who needed to apologize. "But you were right too. I did want the NerveGear repaired to feel closer to my dad but mainly, I wanted to be closer to Chiba-san. He is the first guy I liked, after all."

"I see." Silence fell between us before I faced him directly. Our eyes met as I swallowed all my anxiety and finally said was needed so be said.

"I'm sorry for using you, Takamura-kun! You have every right to be angry with me." After blurting all of that out, I immediately glanced away and awaited his response with closed eyes.

"It's Hiro."

"Huh?" Opening my eyes, I looked at him but this time he was smiling.

"I already said you could call me Hiro." I felt myself unable to speak at that moment as he adjusted his glasses. I wasn't a good person, I knew that… but was Hiro really willing to look past that?

"And don't worry about it." He said while glancing at the other booths. "Now let's just enjoy the festival, huh?"

* * *

"Now, who are you really?!" I shouted at the player controlling Reinhardt who was still grinning Even I had to admit, it looked wrong to see the Dark Lord himself smile like that.

"Come on, Jayce. I know you're a smart guy. Guess." He told me as he swung his sword to the side.

"I'm assuming you had control of this avatar ever since we met. All those quests were made with you in mind, making you able to manipulate the game files directly..." Furrowing my brows, I inhaled before answering. "I'm guessing you're a game dev."

"Bingo!" He snapped his finger. "But you know me better as Toru Minabuchi."

"The server maintenance guy?!" This was quite unexpected. At that point, I wondered how long I went without knowing Reinhardt was not an NPC after all.

"Of course this isn't the first time I took control of an NPC. You might remember the pirate quest? Now that was really fun! I even managed to get some of my office mates in on it."

"You're the one sending the ghost missions!" The blue message I received that no one else could see led me to the Pirate King quest.

"You like them? Specifically tailored quests for you and Wairuzu. Designed to really test your skills."

"Why? Why us?!"

"We've been watching you for a while now, Jayce. Even if players were reporting sightings of two overpowered 'hackers', we just let you two roam free." Raising his arms, Reinhardt explained. "Why you ask? We were just curious to see what you could do, that's all. The moment you decided to steal all of the Gaia Keys, we were instantly hooked onto your crusade!"

"What are we to you? Entertainment?!" I gritted my teeth. He was watching. They were all watching this entire time.

"Chill, dude. It's a game, of course it's entertainment." Waving his sword around, red lighting crackled from its tip. "But enough talk, you came here to defeat the final boss and claim your prize."

Focusing everything I had, blue energy surrounded me as I copied the exact same long-sword Reinhardt held in his hands.

"One more thing before we start, what's the meaning behind this ability?"

"I have no clue." He grinned. "That's what makes you so interesting!"

* * *

"Shit!" M cursed as his scythe was parried to the side by Bisolen's ice shards. Rushing towards it, he was hit with a wave of cold wind. Managing to catch him on time, Soran propped his shield down on one knee. The violent wind blew directly at us as the others took shelter behind the nearby pillars as well.

"Every time we get close, he just keeps sending ice waves to hit us!" Kage shouted while standing beside Arryn.

"The winds too strong for arrows too!" I glanced at the bow in my hands. With that wind in the way, I was useless. Useless!

* * *

A metallic clang rang out as I hit Reinhardt's blade with all my strength. Parrying it to the side, I aimed straight for his neck but the lightning he shot forward knocked me back.

"Why did you do this?! Destroying Helonia and other maps, turning them into PVP zones?! What kind of developer does that to their own game?!" Switching stances, I shifted my weapon into a bow and fired a shot straight at him.

"It makes the game much more interesting, doesn't it?" With a single swipe, he tore away my projectile and rushed towards me. I instinctively created a shield to block his attack. "Besides, the destruction of those towns were the result of you unleashing the Dark Lord upon the world of Azuria! If anyone's to blame, it's you!"

As we skidded back from the impact, he smiled at me again. "You and Wairuzu have much more power over this world than you can imagine!"

"Aaaargh!" We clashed into each other once more. His blade managed to parry my shield so I switched into a great sword. The weight of the weapon managed to break his guard so I made dual swords and slashed at his chest which made him back off.

* * *

"I have an idea!" Richter told us before immediately facing Soran. "I have a skill that allows me to move while being immune to crowd control but I'll need someone to block the incoming damage."

"I can do that." Soran puffed his cheeks. "But how am I going to move?"

Within a second, the Crusader picked up our Knight and held him up on his shoulders. The Knight himself was blushing endlessly. To me, they looked like some sort of medieval couple…

"Comfortable?!" Richter grinned as he held him up.

"Reasonably!" Soran shouted in response.

"Alright, keep that shield up!" Rushing forward, a glowing light surrounded his body as Soran braced for impact. The two charged forward with ease as they got closer and closer to Bisolen.

"Release!" With one swift motion, Richter dropped Soran off and raised his Holy Sword, bringing it down on the goat's head and ending the blizzard waves temporarily. Taking this chance, the rest of us rushed out of our hiding spot and charged forward. Releasing a flurry of arrow strikes, I yelled my heart out. The projectiles sent forth by Jean and Orha hit the Demon King hard as M and the Lancer finally took the potshots they wanted, dealing a lot of damage to the boss.

"Take this, man!" The Gunslinger managed to fire ice shots from his pistols at the boss's feet, freezing him in place for a follow up attack.

"Feel like trying that combo, little brother?" Arryn asked Kage as they ran towards Bisolen.

"Sure, but don't call me that in-game!" With an upward swing of his battle-axe, Kage knocked the beast back as Arryn followed up with a barrage of slashes to its two danced around him in a manner that was similar to when she and Jayce did their combo. Kage was noticeably slower but more powerful with each hit he dealt. Their final blow managed to make Bisolen stumble back as the other Archer and I pulled back on our bowstrings. Firing power shots, we managed to stick his hands into the wall.

"Together!" Richter and Soran charged their swords and leaped forward. Both of their weapons lit up as they brought them down onto Bisolen, dealing the final blow and shattering him into blue shards.

"We… we did it!" Jean raised his harp into the air as the rest of them cheered. Leaning against the wall, I slumped onto the ground with an exhausted sigh. A shadow fell upon me as I looked up and found the masked Archer standing over me.

"Nice shot."

Smirking, I couldn't help but feel proud. "Of course, I do have the best aim in the game!"

"Hey, did Rai just speak?!" The Lancer shouted.

"That's crazy, man!" The Gunslinger ran up to us. "Say something else!"

They got nothing but silenced as everyone laughed as well. Maybe Soran was right, working together was fun.

* * *

"Don't you care about this game at all?!"

Smirking, Reinhardt held up his sword. "This is the first time I've been put in charge of a project this big, of course I do. This isn't my game in the first place so even if it all goes to hell, I don't mind. As long as I get to work on something more interesting than this."

I clicked my tongue. He was ignoring everything the fan-base had been saying. He couldn't care less if the players left this game. He wasn't fit to rule this world.

"I'm going to kill you!" With a single leap, I swung a battle-axe down onto him. As he guarded, I let go and swept at his feet with the chains that I made instantly which made him drop to the ground. As the lightning surged from him, I immediately created a scythe and swept his sword away from him.

"Smart move, taking the sword awa-" With a single motion, I drove two swords into his chest.

"I am going to make this game better than you ever could." I told him sternly. He just chuckled in reply.

"I look forward to it." He said as I let go. With the swords disappearing, he started to slowly fade away. "It's about now where I start saying stuff about seeing my beloved again in the afterlife… but I'm sure you don't want to hear it, do you?"

I released my blue Aura as I pulled my mask down, staring at him in silence.

"Congratulations for clearing the tower, Jayce." He said before completely disappearing. He must have planned a dramatic death for Reinhardt but he was right. I was more focused on something else. The center of the room lit up as the windows surrounding me glowed white. Rising from the ground, a white cube appeared.

"A developer console?" I slowly approached it as it showed me a screen with a hand-print. Without hesitation, I placed my palm on its surface.

 **"Welcome, Admin Jayce."**

* * *

"Anyone hurt?" Jean asked as he and Orha went around, healing the others. As the rest of us grouped up, I found Richter approaching us while scratching his head.

"Hey, I know we haven't exactly gotten along in the past but…"

"But you want us to forget everything you've ever done to us as well as all the horrible things you said to us?" Crossing my arms, I raised a brow. I didn't want to let them off that easily but a nudge and a smile from our cute knight was all that it took me to consider that thought. "Bottom line: we won't forget… but I'll consider you as neutral from now on. How's that sound?"

"Sounds fair, Archer." He smiled gently as the others gathered around us. Everyone except Arryn who was busy poking at the frame where the portal was supposed to appear.

"Hey, isn't the doorway to the next floor supposed to be here already?" She asked as M joined her.

"Let me see…" Adjusting his stance, he quickly sliced the empty frame, barely scratching it.

"Hitting everything won't solve your problems, M." Orha sternly said.

"I have to disagree with that one, Wizard." The Lancer chuckled.

"It's strange though. The portal to the last floor should have already opened." Kage stroked his chin.

"I'm just worried about Jayce. We have no idea where Reinhardt took him." The Duelist held her head down. Up until now, I never got the chance to ask her why she was still supporting that sociopath so I was still curious.

 **"Don't worry, I'm alright."** Jayce's voice suddenly rang in our ears. It wasn't like it was coming from speakers around the room but it felt like his voice was being directly streamed to our ears loud and clear. **"It turns out the final floor's boss was Reinhardt who, in turn, was the game's server manager."**

"Wait what?" Soran made a confused face.

 **"I managed to kill him though so here I am."**

My eyes widened as my throat felt stiffer. He had actually done it. He was an admin now.

 **"About the portal, that was me. I closed it off temporarily."**

"Cool, now let us up." M said.

 **"About that…"** All of a sudden, everyone except our guild started glowing as a field of red light burst from the top floor and traveled all the way to the bottom.

"What the hell?!" Stepping back, I drew my bow out and expected the worst.

 **"Rangers, I've made you all invulnerable and activated the PVP setting for the tower. Kill them and retrieve the white Gaia Key."**

"Jayce!" I shouted.

 **"Sorry, Daize. I can't leave any of you with a key. Don't worry, you're free to go if you hand it over."**

Instinctively, we grouped up together on the other side as the players in front of us gathered. Each of them had a solemn look on their faces. It was clear they were hesitant about the order their guild leader gave them.

"Jayce... we don't have to." Arryn said.

 **"Arryn, we do. If even one Gaia Key remains then there's a chance my power can be matched. I can't allow that to happen."** An audible sigh came from his end. **"Listen, if you give up the key then I won't permanently ban you all. How does that sound? You love this game as much as I do, I'm sure you want to keep playing."**

"If we're in your way then why not just ban us on the spot?!" I yelled back.

 **"I'm giving you a chance here, Daize! I still want people to enjoy this game."**

"That's rich coming from you…" M gritted his teeth.

 **"Richter!"**

Sighing, the Crusader raised his sword. "Just tell us which one of you has the key and the rest can leave. Please..."

* * *

The sound of popping rang out through the sky as we watched the fireworks. Mari's friends were all sprawled out on a picnic blanket laid out on the grass while she and I were sitting on the stone bench behind them. Our hands, firmly placed on our sides, they were extremely close to each other. Glancing at her sparkling eyes firmly fixed on the light-show, I decided to finally accept what I had been feeling all this time. Ever since I met her I wanted to tell her this one thing. Now might be the last chance I'd get.

"Mari, I-" A flash of orange filled my peripheral vision. Quickly turning my head, I watched as a bright orange firework exploded into a ball of flame just like I did whenever I used my enhance ability.

"Hiro? You what?" Turning back to her, her eyes met mine as I tried to think of what I was going to say.

"I-I..."

"Something's bothering you, isn't it?" She tilted her head. I never knew how she could deduce my feelings like that.

Slowly I took out my orange AuraSphere and stared at it. Then, it all clicked in my head. All of this time, I thought I had to choose between Mari's party or the Sky Tower event but the solution was right in front of me this entire time. "You have an internet connection here, right?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course. Why?" Mari quickly leaned forward, curiously gazing at the AuraSphere.

"Do you mind if I dive real quick?" Putting on the device, I quickly accessed the internet settings.

"Dive? Here? You can do that?"

"Yeah. As long as I have a stable connection, I should be fine." Pausing for a moment, I realized how rude I was sounding right now. "Oh! I'm sorry… it's rude of me to just play video games during your party, isn't it?"

"Hiro... why do you need to dive? What game are you playing?" She asked me discreetly.

"Aura Kingdom Online. Right now there's an important event. I don't really have time to explain but it's important to my friends too. If we don't succeed, the game might be shut down."

* * *

I gulped nervously as I stared at the circular devices on his ears which, now looking closely, was a familiar orange color. My lips quavered and my eyes widened as I came to the realization that the person I wronged was the same person who showed me the kindness I never deserved online.

"Wai-"

"Damn it!" He stood up, gritting his teeth in frustration as well as catching the attention of the people around us. "The battery isn't charged enough to dive!"

"What? Do you need a charger then?" I asked.

"I can remotely charge it if I had the dock but..." His face shifted from frustration to sadness. "I left it at home."

If he was talking about the same event, if he really was Wairuzu, then that meant he was missing the Sky Tower event just like I was. That meant the guys were doing this without us. I had assumed that it would be alright to leave if it meant that Wairuzu was with them but I now knew that was not the case.

"It's okay. I'm sure they're fine. I wouldn't want to skip out on your farewell party after a-"

"Go." I said firmly.

"Huh?"

"I said go." Standing up, I met his gaze with mine and made sure he knew I was serious. "Your friends need you."

"But Mari, I don't want to leave you." That statement made my face turn red as I tried hiding my face behind the sleeves of my yukata.

"I'll be fine, Hiro… but if you feel guilty then just promise me one thing." Slowly I raised my head to face him with a smile. "Message me again when you're done."

His eyes glistened as he smiled back and nodded before running off. I watched as he quickly made his way down the stairs of the shrine and out of my sight. I couldn't be there for them as Megumi so I knew he had to be there as Wairuzu.

"Where's he going?" Chisa got up and asked me.

"To save his friends." Smiling quietly, I stared at the palm of my hand. Deep inside, I knew what I had to do. "Chisa, I apologize but could you keep everyone company for an hour or so?"

"What? Why?"

"Please!" Holding her shoulders tightly, I pleaded. "It's important!"

"F-fine... go do what you gotta do."

"Thank you!" Quickly hugging her, I ran off towards my house as fast as I could which was not that much when you're wearing the slippers I was wearing. On the way, my Aunt saw and called out to me while she was surrounded by her friends.

"Mari? Where are you going?"

Not stopping, I quickly replied. "I just need to use the restroom for a bit!"

"But there's a restroom… in the shrine."

Her voice faded away as I got closer and closer to my destination. Even if Hiro, or should I say Wairuzu, managed to log in, they still needed a capable healer. Despite my speed, I managed to make it back to my house in one piece although I could feel my yukata already loosening as I ran. My room wasn't far so I managed to get in and boot up my laptop with ease. Sliding on the NerveGear, I prepared for the biggest fight we've ever had.

"I'm coming, guys…"

* * *

 **Ending: Shirushi by LiSA**

* * *

 **Next Episode: Game Over**


	24. Episode 24: Game Over

**Episode 24: Game Over**

My breaths became heavier as I sprinted as fast as I could towards the train station. My mind raced as I could already feel the sweat running down my face, blotting my glasses but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop now.

 _"I was scared… Shimpei got punched but I didn't do anything." My voice trembled as my uncle knelt down and rubbed my head, smiling earnestly. I was such a coward back then._

 _"You're still learning, Hiro. Trust me, in time you'll become braver and stronger than you expect. You'll become a true hero." I always thought he was wrong about me._

 _"Why do you still call me that? I'm not a Hero, uncle." And that I was far from the person he thought I was._

 _But all he did smile as I glanced at his face. That same smile. The smile that would comfort anyone at their lowest point. "You're my Hero."_

Pausing to catch my breath, I didn't know if it was sweat or tears running down my face. All this time I knew he cared about us so that made him leaving hurt so much. Glaring at the station in front of me, I curled my fists and gritted my teeth.

 _'I'm not running away this time, Uncle RJ!'_

* * *

"Richter, please!" Soran pleaded helplessly as tears filled his horrified eyes. Being the most sensitive out of all of us, he couldn't help but be emotional.

"Just give it to us and we'll let you go!" Richter shouted one more time as we stood our ground. Seeing our determination, he clicked his tongue in frustration. "We're giving you a chance here! Don't you still want to play this game?!"

"There's no way we'll hand AKO over to assholes like you!" I shouted back. If we gave in to their conditions or even quit the game completely, I knew that we would be losing something precious to all of us.

"Then you give us no choice…" As he slowly walked towards us, I tried my best to think of what to say. Surely they were hesitant to follow such a tyrant leader like Jayce. There had to be some doubts in their minds.

"You're really going to let him order you around?!"

"I follow Jayce because I believe he is the best candidate to lead. We all know that he won't be able to do his job properly if others stand in his way."

"None of you have anything to say about this?!" I called the others out only to be met with pure silence. I couldn't believe it. They were either too scared to do anything or too stupid to realize that they were just being used. All of a sudden, my eyes fell upon Arryn who turned away to avoid my gaze.

Smirking, I had my answer. "So everyone here is just your puppet, huh Jayce? Even Arryn?"

 **"She's not my puppet!"** It worked, his loud voice was in our heads again. **"She's my partner. Everything I've done has been for her."**

"Really? It doesn't seem like it…" Glancing at the portal to the lower floor behind them, I saw that it was still open. Turning to M, he followed my gaze and nodded. If we couldn't fight them here, we just had to retreat. There was no way I was going to let them get their hands on our Gaia Key. "Arryn, do you really think Jayce is doing the right thing? Can't you think for yourself for once?!"

The Duelist's eyes were clearly conflicted as she lowered her head. Kage, who was right beside her, held her shoulders to comfort her. Figures.

"Enough!" The Dark Ravager shouted. "You don't talk to my sister like that!"

"He's right, you're nothing but a bunch of selfish pricks." Richter grunted as I stepped back. What the hell did he call us?

"What…"

Unable to move, the Crusader brought his large blade down on me before being blocked away by a magical barrier. A loud burst rang out as our one and only Sorcerer showed up in her upgraded purple garb. She even had a new glowing white tome to boot. It was like an angel had descended onto the battlefield during our time of need.

"Sorry, I'm late."

* * *

"Megumi?" Daize whispered in awe.

"Megumi!" Soran shouted in joy.

"Hey, guys! Looks like I had some free time, after all." I greeted as I joined them on their side of the room. The rest of the players looked nervous as I scanned them with my eyes. Arryn, in particular, looked more nervous than usual.

"It's about time! Where the hell were you?!" M scolded as he approached me.

"Yeesh! Sorry, I had a party to attend." Glancing back, I watched as the green Duelist stepped forward despite being tugged at by Kage.

"Arryn!" The Ravager reached out to stop her once more, only to be waved away by the Duelist.

The look on her face was more serious now. "Megumi… I-"

"I know you don't want to do this but you have to, don't you?" I asked her directly as she nodded in dismay.

"It's more than a game for us. It's our home and I won't let anyone take it away from us." She looked sincere as she said that. I could tell that she was.

"It's our home too... but unfortunately, only one of us can have the world we want." Lowering my head, I slowly approached her and embraced her. Putting my mouth to her ear, I whispered quietly. "In any case… my name is Mariko Amari."

"Huh?" Arryn quickly stepped back in shock as her face turned red.

With a smile, I skipped back. "I trust that you'll do the right thing."

"Megumi…" Her face changed from a look of embarrassment to that of determination as she glared at the roof."Jayce! Remove our immunity status!"

 **"Arryn, don't do this to me right now!"**

"Do it or I swear I'll log out and slap you so hard you'll end up in a different game!" I couldn't help but chuckle at her statement. She seemed so fumed at her boyfriend. "Jayce, we can do this without cheating! We have a dream to make this world ours and damn it, I want to fight for it... but not like this."

A few moments of silence passed before the glow on them faded. Jayce hesitantly spoke again. **"Fine... but if you die, I'm going down there and finishing this myself."**

"Looks like we'll be fighting after all, Megumi." Arryn smiled at me as she unsheathed her swords.

"It seems so, Arryn." I said as I held my breath and held my magic book out.

"It's not going to be much of a fight with their numbers." M pointed out quietly. He was right in that regard with us being five and them bring seven.

"Hey, don't be so negative. I've got a good feeling about this." Opening my tome, I started checked the cool-down on my barrier spell. Just enough time.

"Charge!" Arryn raised her sword as she was overtaken by Richter. Within a flash, I dashed to the side and opened my barrier. With a push, I sent it crashing into the Crusader, knocking him against the wall. The next one to attack were the ranged members. Bullets, arrows, and spells came flying towards us as Orha and M stepped forward to intercept them. M managed to open a portal of bats in time, destroying the first wave before Orha finished off the rest with a large fireball. Rushing at me, Arryn sent our a flurry of slashes. Luckily, I managed to dodge and parry them using small barriers I made on the palms of my hands. My arms move around and blocked each incoming hit before I used an opening to fire a small bolt of light which sent the Duelist skidding back.

"You won't be able to keep this up for long!" She shouted as she caught her breath.

"I know!" A notification in the corner of my eyes popped up as I grinned. "That's why I'm glad I managed to stall enough time for him!"

 _ **Wairuzu: 'I'm here.'**_

* * *

A flash of blinding light filled my vision as I rushed through the last portal. Landing on my knee, I looked up as everyone in the room turned to my direction. They were all here except for the one person I was looking for.

"Wairuzu…" Daize had a look of surprise on his face. He was bunched up with the others on the opposite side of the room. Clearly none of them were expecting to see me again.

"It's about time!" M shouted as he rested his scythe on his shoulder. If anyone was going to be pissed because of my absence, it was him

"Sorry, had some personal stuff to take care of… but I'm ready to kick some ass now!" I said as I cracked my knuckles. Turning to others, I unsheathed my tachi and pointed it at them. "You're not hurting anyone!"

Getting back up, the Crusader rested his sword on his shoulder. "You're no better than us, demon. We'll never allow someone like you to become admin. That position belongs to Jayce!"

"Speaking of which... where is the guy?" I tilted my head before a loud and annoying voice rang out,

 **"Wairuzu, congratulations on making it to the Sky Tower."** Weirdly, his voice was in my head like some sort of inner conscience. **"But I'm afraid this is where I take no chances."**

A loud bell rang out as we all stood still. However, nothing really happened. Confused, I scratched my head.

"Uh, is something supposed to happen?"

 **"Why?! Why can't I delete you?!"** Jayce's voice sounded frustrated. Before any of us could react, the most unexpected thing happened. Reinhardt appeared in front of us, seemingly out of nowhere while tutting.

"Really? The first thing you do as admin is permaban the only competition you have? How boring..." He rolled his bright red eyes like a child who was in the middle of a lecture. "You know what? I've changed my mind. If this is how you're going to act then let me put this scenario before you: I've set the PVP conditions to permaban, whoever dies gets permanently banned."

"W-what?!" I took a step back as Jayce yelled out loud.

 **"No! You can't do this!"**

"Yes I can. I'm opening all portals and taking your admin privileges as well. Whoever is left standing at the end of this event gets to be admin. May the best player win!" In the blink of an eye, the Dark Lord himself disappeared. We all stared at each other before realizing everyone was now vulnerable. Whoever the was controlling Reinhardt was one sadistic dude.

 **"Everyone get up here! I'll try to get the console to work again!"** Jayce shouted as the portal behind us lit up.

"Just come down here and fight with us, Jayce! I know we can win!" Arryn froze in place as Kage tried to pull her away.

"Arryn, we have to go now!" He told her frantically. I knew that if Jayce was reunited with them, we wouldn't stand a chance at all. With my tachi out in the open, I sped towards them. However, my attempts to reach them were in vain as I was knocked back by the Lancer and his spear.

"You're not getting your filthy hands on them!" Holding his weapon in his hands, he brought it down once more as I rolled to the side. The rest of his team gathered as they prepared to fight. Each of them took out their weapons with the intent to kill us. "Arryn, Kage, get to the other side! We'll clear a oath for you and bu you some time!"

"B-but..." Arryn stuttered.

"Go! We'll be right behind you!" Richter reinforced their defenses.

"We have to keep them from reaching the portal!" Megumi gritted her teeth as Arryn and Kage sped towards them along with their armed bodyguards.

"We need to hold out until Wairuzu gets to Jayce! He can bring down that prick!" Daize pointed out.

Sighing, M lowered his head. "Fine, I'll stop 'em."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Orha asked with a deadpanned face.

"With my trump card… just make sure you guys clear out when it hits." Turning his stupid cap around, he clapped his hands together as a vortex of water started forming around his feet. The winds around us picked up as we felt the breeze get stronger and stronger.

Richter and his men took a step back. "What the hell is-"

"Dagon! To me!" The vortex surrounding M rose up as a large wave formed along with Dagon, the King of Fish, itself riding it. The humongous wave sped towards us as Arryn and Kage stopped in their tracks.

"Holy Sheath!" Richter raised his sword and brought down a barrier of light which blocked the incoming water as well as Dagon from reaching our side of the room.

"Get over here, swordsman!" M yelled at me as I nodded and ran towards the portal through the side of the waves as fast as my virtual legs could take me.

"Watch out!" Soran rushed towards me, pulled out his shield, and brought it down onto the ground. "Iron Wall!"

A blast of water hit us as it bounced off the tall barrier our Knight had made. As he grunted, the barrier started cracking.

"Gaia's Protection!" Megumi reinforced the shields with her own spell. "Wairuzu, you're the only one who can beat Jayce! Get to the portal! We'll make sure the water doesn't hit you!"

"Right. Thank you!" I said as I ran towards Daize and Orha, the latter putting up whatever shields he could to avoid the deadly force of the water which apparently had friendly-fire on.

"Jean, create a corridor! The rest of you make sure Kage and Arryn get to Jayce!" Richter ordered as they nodded in unison. With a single strum, a magical barrier split the man-made sea apart and allowed Kage and Arryn to reach the other side but before they could enter the gate, Daize fired an explosive shot at them and knocked them away from the doorway. Leaping over the crashing waves, the enemy Archer fired a large power shot at ours.

"Ignis!" Daize blasted the arrow apart with an explosive, creating a blinding light which allowed me to push through. Leaping into the air, my weapon met the Lancer's. I tumbled back as Daize flipped over and fired poison shots at the ranged enemies. Quickly dashing in between them, I slashed at their bodies before sending a wave of fire directly at Kage who managed to cut it in half.

"You're not going anywhere, you cowards!" Daize shouted as he activated his rapid fire and let loose as many arrows as he could. Arryn pulled out her dual swords and hit each one in response before flipping backwards to let Kage tank the last hits.

"I… I can't hold up anymore!" Orha's hands were now shaking as the barrier between us and the tidal wave was cracking. It wasn't long until it burst and the water came seeping in along with Dagon who surprisingly had M riding on its back.

"Hahahahaha! Feel the power of the sea!" The Reaper laughed maniacally. In a split second I leaped into the portal as they were distracted by the incoming wave. A flash of light blinded my vision.

* * *

A quick flash followed by a thud rang out as I was checking the console. Unfortunately, none of my commands were working anymore. That bastard really took away my administrator status. Sighing, I closed it and turned around.

"Guys, we need to-" I stopped in the middle of my sentence as the person who stood before me was not one of my friends but my enemies. "Wairuzu."

Scratching his head, he stood up in a daze. "M really did a number on the floor below..."

In an instant, I formed chains around my hands with blades at their ends and sent them flying towards the other Ronin who quickly parried both of them. My glowing blue eyes glared at him with all my rage.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! You're breaking this game, Jayce!" He dared shout at me with that accusation.

"I am trying to save it! I am trying to create a perfect world of me and my friends! Why can't you understand that when you have friends of your own? Don't you think they deserve a break from your selfishness?!" Everything he's done up until this point was for his own benefit. I hated him.

"I do want them to be happy! I've caused so much pain to others, I know that! But…" Wairuzu clicked his tongue in frustration before meeting my gaze with determination. "But I still want to have fun with them! I still want to connect with them! I'm not afraid anymore!"

Narrowing my eyes, I pulled my mask back up and created guns in both of my hands. "Then let's end this here, once and for all!"

* * *

As my vision cleared, I reached for the top of my head. Sitting up, I realized that it was no longer there. The one thing that I treasured the most. The thing that kept me going all this time. Despite all the hardships we faced, there was that one constant reminder of why I had to fight. Why I had to stay strong despite my doubts. It gave me faith in my ability and showed me that I could be brave even in the face of adversity's gaping jaws. At that point, I knew nothing I did would fill the now gaping hole that used to be my heart. What I had lost was more than I could imagine. I was broken before but it made me whole. Now it was gone. The one-use legendary item: the Dagon Cap. A tear formed in the corner of my eye as I realized the whole room I was in was now empty and soaked with water.

"Huh? Where'd everyone go?"

* * *

It was tough keeping up with Jayce's strikes but I knew I couldn't lose now… not when everyone was relying on me. First a scythe then a shuriken, followed up with a battle-axe. It seemed as though Jayce was burning through every weapon class with each strike. Holding strong, I parried each of his attacks before returning with a horizontal slice. Flipping back, both of us ran around the round room before dashing towards each other at tremendous speeds. Our swords clashed as the force made us skid backwards. Already, I felt drained but I was sure Jayce was exerting as much effort as I was. Our Auras burned brightly as we glared at each other with glowing eyes. I was orange and he was blue.

"I… I really wish you could see the world for what it is." The other Ronin panted as he spoke. "The truth is, I can't really put my trust in anyone other than Arryn and Kage. Everyone's just a spineless coward who only cares for themselves! That's why I can't let you or anyone else be admin, I won't allow the game to governed by anyone but me!"

Struggling to stop shaking, I steadily held my blade in front of me. "I do see what you mean! But that doesn't mean there aren't any good people in the world!"

That sentence made him hesitate. I could see his eyes waver as I spoke.

"I've met bad people for sure but I've also met people who are willing to believe in me even at my worst." I've certainly experienced both sides of the coin but not everyone was the same. "Just look at Arryn and Kage, they're willing to do anything to help you reach your goals! Richter and his team too!"

"Shut up…"

"These people are willing to follow you even if you're just a stuck-up power hungry tyrant!"

"Shut up!" In less than a second, Jayce came flying towards me with scythes in both of his hands. Holding my sword up, I prepared to block but underestimated the brute force of his anger. I was sent flying towards the wall as my sword was shattered into a million shards. Attempting to stand up, I realized my orange flames were dying out.

"Ha! Can't enhance anything if you don't have a weapon!" Jayce walked towards me, creating a bow and arrow in his hands. As he pulled back on the bowstring, I noticed a glimmer in the corner of my eye. A black and red long-sword sat quietly in the opposite side of the room.

 _'Isn't that Reinhardt's sword?'_

"Goodbye, Wairuzu." He said before releasing the blue bolt. Quickly getting up, I rushed towards the blade on the ground as I used the smoke from the blast as cover. "No!"

It was too late. In a single bound, I crashed into Jayce with the new sword I retrieved. Red lighting sparked around me as it faded into orange along with the sword. The same orange flames I've had since the start erupted around my body as I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"Enhance!" Gritting my teeth, I rushed towards him once more and swung my sword out. The blast of the lighting was too powerful for him to parry so he ended up barely blocking it with a shield which shattered almost immediately. Getting back up, he retreated and created a large cannon which fired out multiple blasts in my direction. Raising my sword, orange lightning shot out and zapped each projectile which left only smoke and craters.

 _'Balance the line...'_ I told myself again and again.

"Just die already!" Wielding two spears, Jayce lunged at my and started thrusting them in my direction. Reacting accordingly, I dodged and weaved while parrying each strike. Skidding back, I charged up a bunch of orange energy into my sword. I knew that I was already at my limit. It was now or never.

"Crescent Slice!" Spinning, I released a pent up blast of energy which shot through Jayce like a knife.

"N-no…" He tumbled back, clearly dazed. I did not hesitate as I ran forward and drove my sword through his chest. As I held him there with my head close to his, the orange Aura around me and my sword disappeared along with his blue hue.

"Great job… I guess I underestimated you, Wairuzu." He said, quietly lowering his head. "I… I just wanted to be happy, you know? This world is amazing. I don't want to go back."

"I know it is." I replied as I watched his health bar slowly trickle down. I couldn't help but admit that despite everything, I still saw part of myself within him. The real world was cruel and unforgiving. Who wouldn't want to escape to a fantasy like this?

"But you know what? At least I'm not going down without a fight." Before I could react, Jayce unsheathed the tachi he had on his back and drove it into me. As we both stood there with eyes wide and bodies shaking from the exhaustion, everything went black.

 **[YOU HAVE BEEN PERMANENTLY BANNED]**

* * *

Slowly sitting up, I ruffled my hair which was drenched in cold sweat. It felt like everything that had just happened was a dream. The game, Mari, everything. A lot had happened over the course of just one summer. I steadily took off the AuraSphere from my ears and placed them on the desk beside my bed. I couldn't help but smile sadly at its orange hue.

 _'I'm sorry, uncle. In the end, I couldn't save your game.'_

"Hiro?" My mom knocked from behind the door. "Are you finished?"

"Come in." I replied as she entered with a phone in her hands. She was oddly smiling as she handed it to me.

"She wants to speak with you." She said with glee.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Takamura-kun. Good, you're done." Sakiyama's voice came from the other end. At first, I had a hard time believe that she would actually want to talk to me for once. "That was a nice fight. We saw everything on the live-stream."

"Thanks but… I ended up losing."

"Not to worry, the event was successful."

"What? How?" I couldn't believe what I just heard.

"Would you believe me if I said the number of people interested in the game shot up because of you?" I heard her smirk after her sentence. "The game is undergoing maintenance right now thanks to a friend of mine but he said that it should be better than before after a week."

"Or two! I said a week or two!" I heard a male voice in the background before the sound of the phone shuffling filled my ear. "Hello! I'm Toru Minabuchi but you can call me Reinhardt!"

"Wait what?" I asked in confusion.

"Toru! Don't just grab the phone from me!" I couldn't help but smile as I heard Sakiyama's audible whining.

"Thanks to the live footage, people are now hyped up about AKO after seeing the amazing clash of the gods on top of the Sky Tower! We've even sold more AuraSphere units than usual within the past hour!" he told me ecstatically. "You did it, Wairuzu. That was quite the show."

"Does this mean…" The phone immediately silenced again which told me that Sakiyama had grabbed it back.

"The company has agreed to keep the servers running using our own funds due to the players' demands." Tears started forming in my eyes as I head this. It's not going away? "Everyone was inspired by you and your friends so much that it made them want to stay."

"T-thank you…" I tried my best to hold my emotions in as I spoke.

"No. Thank you, Takamura-kun." Sakiyama really sounded sincere for once but in the usual fashion, she hung up. Slowly placing the phone beside me, I smiled at my mom and decided to let go of my tears as I embraced her. I didn't care, I just needed a hug for once.

"Hiro…" She started crying as well as I felt her hold tighten. "His legacy will live on, won't it?"

* * *

"I'm sorry." I held my head down as I sat on my small bed. Ari and Akira stood before me with arms crossed as they both sighed.

"It doesn't matter anyway, we all died." The little boy pouted.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you two the world I promised. I failed both of you." My eyes watered as I stared at my hand. I was powerless and now we were stuck living in a world I hated.

"Dante-kun... don't worry. It's just a game." Ari smiled at me gently as she took my hand.

"But that world was the only place where we could be together. If we had succeeded then we could spend all the time we wanted together without being apart." To my surprise, Ari pulled me up by my collar and glared at me with furrowed brows.

"Dante Albrecht!" She said as I closed my eyes and prepared for a beating. "I don't need a virtual world to love you."

Catching me off guard, she brought our lips together. It tasted sweeter than what I tasted in-game. Nothing could beat the real thing, after all. I definitely didn't deserve someone as perfect as her.

"Fine. I'm letting you two off the hook this one time." Akira said as we chuckled. "Gross…"

"What are you going to do now?" My girlfriend asked me with her arms still wrapped around my neck.

"I... If you'd allow me, I'd like to ask your parents for forgiveness." I said sincerely. This meeting was long overdue. "And I want to take that offer. To go to your college I mean."

"What?" Her eyes lit up in an instant as I was pulled into another embrace. "That's great! You'll be great! We can move into an apartment in Tokyo together! We can meet up in cafes between classes and-"

"Whoah, slow down sis!" Akira stopped her mid-sentence. "That's only if he gets in. Aren't you getting ahead of yourself?"

Turning around, Ari smiled beautifully. "I'm sure he'll get in. He'll do his best, right?"

"I will." It was about time I took responsibility for my life. I don't know why I couldn't see it before but now I realized. The most important thing in my life was not AKO, it was her. No matter what world we were in, as long as I had her, I would be happy. Besides, I could use a break from gaming for once.

* * *

As the sun shined on the first day of the second semester, I stood in front of the school dressed up in our usual uniform which consisted of a white button-up shirt and black slacks. With my AuraSphere on, I scanned through the forums celebrating the newly updated Aura Kingdom Online. Sakiyama had discussed the matter of lifting the ban of me and my friends from the game with her friend, Toru, but he made a point that bringing us back would just negate the feat we had pulled off, not to mention the stakes of that final battle. However, we all collectively agreed that we needed a break from the game for a while. All of us except one.

"It's amazing dude! They give you all the console commands in the menu!" Aki explained to the others as they approached the gate. Since he, M, was the only one to survive the Sky Tower, he was appointed as admin along with seven other players. Of course, this meant that he had to play the game regularly now in order to bring order to the world. Even if we didn't manage to win, I still felt happy. This summer was the most fun I've had in forever. As I glanced at each of their faces, I saw the same happiness radiate from them. It was good to have friends like them.

"Hey, Hiro! You coming?" Shimpei and Genji stood at the gate as they waved at me. School was going to start soon.

"Coming!" I have a lot of regrets but all I could do now was move on and be the best person I could be. Be the best hero my uncle always thought I was and honor what he was to me: one hell of a gamer. Before I could remove the AuraSphere from my head, a message popped up.

 _ **Mariko Amari: 'Made it to Hokkaido safely! Thank goodness!'**_

 _'Good. She'll be okay now.'_ Smiling, I replied back.

 _ **Hiroyuki Takamura: 'I'm about to head into school. Good luck with the move!'**_

 _'Yeah, everything is good.'_ I thought as I heard the bell ring out.

* * *

 **Ending: Crossing Field by LiSA (FULL)**


	25. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

As I stepped out from the office, I watched the clouds roll over. To me, it was a sign that the fall was coming. Despite the events that took place, I still had a lot to work on. On cue, the doors behind me swung open to reveal a woman with short hair and thin glasses. She waved gently as she passed me by.

"It feels good to be done with work!"

"Easy for you to say, Nami-chan. You're not the one who has to revamp an entire game within two weeks. The team's going to be a mess when they hear what we have to do." I scratched my head and sighed.

"It was a risky move you made. You almost shut the game down permanently." You didn't need to remind me. I knew the risk yet, in the end, it paid off.

"I know, I know. Next time, leave the marketing to the marketing department." At least my version was more interesting. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find a way to implement the Cardinal System into AKO. God knows the NPC's and quests need polishing."

Before I could walk away, however, I felt my shoulder get tugged by soft fingers. As I turned around, I noticed a flush of red fill her face like some sort of high school student about to confess their love. "A-are you free this weekend?"

"I told you, I need to work on the game..." My eyes shifted as she pouted. I had to admit, she got me. "Fine... I'll try to free up dinner."

"Okay then." She immediately turned around and started walking away. She was never good at goodbyes. All of a sudden, I felt a vibration in my pocket. Pulling out my own AuraSphere, I put it on and answered the call.

"Hello? Yes." I shifted my feet. "Yeah, Enhancer and Creator were more interesting than I expected... Oh, don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them."

My gaze shifted back to the sky as the clouds cleared up and the sun shone once more. "In the meantime, I suggest we start looking for the others."


	26. Preview Episode

**Preview Episode**

 **[Input Ready]**

 **You are not human.**

"I am not human."

 **You are a warrior.**

"I am a warrior."

 **You are a killer.**

"I am a killer."

 **And your name?**

"And my name… is Argenta."

* * *

 _ **AKO: Dragon Nest (April 9, 2019)**_


End file.
